Students celebrate the opening of new community ice rink in Grande Prairie County
Supporting initiatives that create active and vibrant communities is a core focus area of our giving program. That’s why, when the opportunity to support the construction of a new outdoor community ice rink came up, our ARC team jumped on it.
It started with an idea from the team at Harry Balfour School, a Junior Kindergarten to Grade 8 school located in Grande Prairie County.
“With our new school being built in the county, our school community lost the opportunity to walk to local rinks within city limits,” said Serah Small, Harry Balfour School Athletic Director. “Recognizing the value of outdoor education, we prioritized giving our students the chance to go skating as an essential part of their development.”
The school proposed the idea of building an outdoor rink close to the school and the neighbouring 5 Mile Ag Society and Hall that could support physical education programming for their 570 students and provide a new facility for the entire community to use.
Teaming up for a cause
When ARC was approached about the idea, the Grande Prairie field team jumped into action to lend support. Last December, with all the resources in place, volunteers from Harry Balfour School alongside ARC’s team and other local organizations began construction of the 60’ x 100’ outdoor rink.
“With ARC’s strong ties to our school and the community, we knew they would be an excellent partner to work with,” said Small. “From the moment we pitched the idea, ARC was eager to help make this dream a reality. ARC has been an invaluable partner throughout the entire process, providing countless connections, support, and expertise to bring this project to life.”
The initiative quickly grew to become a true team effort with volunteer hours and in-kind donations from other community and energy industry members who worked diligently to get the rink set up just before the holiday season. Many teams and volunteers stepped up to assist in preparing the area, assembling the structure, and filling the rink with water.
“I could not be prouder of the collective effort from all the organizations and people who gave their time and resources over the past couple of months to create such an amazing result,” said Ron Toly, ARC’s area field manager for northern Alberta. “From the vision of the staff at Harry Balfour to the boots on the ground assembling and filling the rink, this was a true team effort.”
A community celebration
The school’s students and staff, volunteers, local government officials and community members came together to celebrate its official opening on January 16, 2025. The celebration featured an official ribbon-cutting ceremony and, due to weather, a fun game of floor hockey in the school gym.
“This new ice space will create invaluable opportunities for all our students to explore skating, broomball, ringette, and other ice-based programs,” explained Small. “For many students, this will be a unique chance to try ice sports, fostering both confidence and a love for winter activities.”
ARC is proud to support the communities where we live and operate through corporate giving, employee donations and ongoing volunteerism. The Harry Balfour School outdoor rink initiative demonstrates our culture of caring and the passion of our people in giving back to the community.
