“The arena was built in 1960,” Swanson stated. “We knew in discussions we had to include what we were going to do with our arena. Our community’s facilities are getting extremely old.”
They began planning the future of recreation facilities in 2019, and received a grant from the Building Sustainable Communities program to create a long-term rec plan. They hired HTFC Planning and Design to work on this plan, which included looking at existing facilities, and meeting with the user groups and other members of the community.
“They worked through the community surveys, met with different groups of people. The idea is to create future plans for all of our facilities, because we need to look at them all.”
Government funding could cover up to 73% of project cost
Also in 2019, the municipality came upon a grant from Investing in Canada Infrastructure. This fund, which includes federal and provincial money, could pay as much as 73% of a project, very important in a small community. Swanson said they applied, but added both levels of government needed to know they had a plan. Boissevain-Morton applied for both an arena and a pool, with the idea it would be a two-phase project, with the arena coming first. The granting would be over a long period of time, so it could cover both.
However, they did have to pick a site for the arena. Their consultants provided them with 12 potential places in the municipality with the pros and cons. Council looked at each, then narrowed it down to three. They then put them under a microscope, sat down with HTFC and met with some of the user groups. In the end, the decision was made at the council level.
The plan is for a new arena to be constructed on the east end of Boissevain, on the park along South Railway Street bordered by Egan and Aikman Streets, where the outdoor rink is currently located.
Location will bring people to the core of the community
Although Swanson realizes for many people it is a site they would never think of, there are many positives about it. For one, the municipality owns the property, which means no negotiations with an outside party. The work that will have to be done with utilities like water and electricity will be of benefit to the neighbourhood. Also, it will bring visitors to the core of the community.
“At the end of the day,” Swanson explained, “the best location was there. It doesn’t immediately come to mind. However, anyone who comes to use the facility will have to go down our main street. It will bring people downtown.”
She added they looked at different facilities in other communities, and used Rivers as an example of the success of a core community concept.
In the past, there were many different parts of a planned facility, including a town hall. However, this new project will not be a multiplex. They are looking at a regulation sized skating rink with dressing rooms similar to the current arena. They are also looking at a walking track and a common room. Swanson said this will obviously be cheaper, and as for a hall, they have done upgrades to the Legion over the years to improve its feasibility.
They are looking to build the facility closer to the corner of South Railway and Aikman Street on the northeast part of the property. There will be parking for staff and users on the property. The old outdoor rink will have to go, but there are plans for another one to be put up in the community.

What happens to the old arena
This begs the question of what will happen to the old Boissevain Arena. Swanson said they have met with the Turtle Mountain Ag Society, who own the land the arena sits on and who use it for their annual fair. She said they wanted to discuss plans with them before they went public. She felt the meeting went well, and the municipality wants to work with them on the future of the older facility, which also hosts other events like the Dunrea Flea Market and auction sales, to see if they can keep the building up and operating after the rink is gone.
“There are a lot of memories there. We need to look at it, to see if the structure can be saved. I hope it can. We felt the Ag Society needed to know what we were thinking. I’m sure we can come up with something.”
Nicole Fordyce of the Ag Society said they appreciated the heads up about the plans.
“We have no problem with the new proposed arena,” Fordyce said. “Ultimately, it is the municipality’s decision and we support that decision.”
She added they use the arena ice space for their fair weekend to house the display building and the hobby show. They did discuss working with the municipality in the future regarding the building but no decisions were made.
“We will see when the time comes what we are needing for indoor/covered space. We may be able to transform it into something other than an indoor arena. Only time will tell.”
Right now, HTFC is working to come up with a preliminary design. Once they do this, and the municipality decides what all will be in the facility, they would be better suited to estimate a cost of the project. Swanson said the municipality is in a better financial position than they were in years past, and they hope to hear about the grant as soon as they can. However, a new lagoon is the first priority.
They will be looking to develop both a fund-raising committee and a building committee. The head of council feels fund-raising should go well, saying the nearly complete assisted living project was able to get $2 million from the community. They are hoping members of the previous group who were involved in a new facility will help out with this project, along with others from the community.
“We really want some people to run with this,” Swanson said. “We have a great community and this is pretty exciting.”
They are looking at discussing the larger rec plan with the community when it is finished. As for a new pool, which was part of the grant application, it is planned for a little farther in the future, with the idea it will be close to the existing one on the west side of Boissevain.
As for timeline, Swanson feels they will not be working on it until 2023. However, the journey has begun with this one step.
“We can move forward and we will have a plan. This will be a rink people will use in this community for generations.”

by PAUL RAYNER, Recorder staff