Hit by the post-Christmas mild weather, the outdoor skating rinks in Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean are gradually reopening.
Their closure was ordered around December 29 as consecutive days of precipitation and temperatures well above freezing approached.
Thus, the four skating rinks in Saint-Félicien are now all open. The announcement was made on the Municipality’s Facebook page on Sunday morning. They are open every day until 10 p.m.
As for Alma, the City’s website mentions that four out of seven rinks are open, in addition to the Plaines Vertes ice rink.
In Saguenay, the outdoor rinks and ice rings will all be open from Monday, except three, announced the president of the Saguenay Sports and Outdoors Commission, Michel Thiffault.
We only have three infrastructures that will not be open. I’m talking about the Sainte-Anne skating rink in Chicoutimi, northern sector. There’s a water main break in that area. There is the ice rink at the Parc des Violettes in Jonquière which is not open and, at the Foyer des Loisirs, we have completely lost the ice rink. Our services will work very hard to put all this back
underlined the municipal councilor in an interview.
Open in full screen mode
The condition of the ice ring in the Recreation Center prevents it from opening.
Photo: - / Julien Gagnon
He also wanted to highlight the work of the employees to make the 48 external infrastructures usable.
Thinking about warming
Michel Thiffault says that he is personally considering what can be done to combat the effects of the warming observed in recent years. Remember that in 2024, the average temperature was 2.4 degrees Celsius higher than the climatic normal.
There were people who talked to me about it during the holiday season. We see what is happening in Quebec. Quebec will invest a lot of money in refrigerated rinks, a bit like the Canadiens’ rink, even with roofs. So I’m not saying that this is what will be done in Saguenay, but we will certainly think about the situation
he added.
Saguenay has had a Bleu Blanc Bouge rink, from the Canadiens Children’s Foundation, since December 2021.
It was not possible to obtain information about Dolbeau-Mistassini and Roberval.
