When?

Many communities provide outdoor skating opportunities for their residents. Each community has a different process for when they start building their rinks, how they build them, and who completes the work. Some communities build rinks on grass or sand, and others (like Yorkton) build on multi-use asphalt pads which retain more heat and will warm up faster on a bright sunny day. In Yorkton, City staff complete the work to build and maintain the ice, while other communites' rinks may be maintained by volunteers, or community and neighbourhood associations.

When does the City start building the outdoor ice surfaces? Flooding begins when the daytime temperatures are consistently below -8 degrees Celsius in order for the water to freeze properly.   When do the lights turn on? All lights in park spaces and outdoor recreation facilities include photocells and timers. The photocells sense the sunlight. When the photocells senses a lack of sunlight, the lights will turn on. The timers for the lights are set to shut off for the evening at 10:30 pm.