COMMUNITY UPSET AT RINK CLOSING

Elyria – Parents and friends gathered to watch the North Coast Sparklers perform a show that was originally slated for late March but with the cuts in the Parks Department that performance had to be canceled.

Lisa Bowman, Recreation Supervisor for the City of Elyria said that the Sparklers are a part of their Learn to Skate program. “This program has been around for about 10 years and includes girls anywhere from the 5th grade up to high school – it all depends on their skating abilities. Now because of the cuts this program ended so we canceled the March performance, which would have brought skaters in from Cleveland to perform and these teams compete all over the country. It’s always a treat for the girls to see them perform cause it inspires them to continue in the program. Now we just take things day to day.”

Many parents took the opportunity to speak out against the closing:

Tonya Justice from Amherst said that he daughter has been in the program for 8 years and telling her that it was canceled was an unpleasant task. “All the girls were hysterical, many of these girls have been together for 8 years and now it’s gone. This is a real shame, this is something that we have been paying for – the City doesn’t provide this for free, we pay. I have no idea what we are going to do now, there just aren’t a lot of potions.”

Justice said that the loss is more than just a place to skate. “These coaches are wonderful, they are so great with the kids. When my daughter first started she was so shy and was afraid to skate in front of people but the coaches and this program helped her open up and for that I am grateful. This has just been such a big part of their lives.”

John Storr of LaGrange Township said that the Ice Rink has been valuable to him and his family for the last several winters. Each Sunday night Storr brings his daughter and two other kids – all Murray Ridge students – for open skate night. “I bring them out here each Sunday night, I put their skates on and then we spend as mush time skating as possible – the kids just love it so much.”

Storr said that the next closest place for him to take the kids would be North Olmsted and that is not looking like a feasible option. “Well with the driving and then also the cost per season would more than double and I just don’t think we’d be able to handle that right now.”

Matt Hollenbeck is a senior at Oberlin College; he started a program that brings Oberlin College Hockey Club and others from the community to the Ice Rink four rears ago. “The group is called ExCo (Experimental College) – we reserve and pay for two time slots every Sunday night. The group uses the first slot and that is for skating around and for members of the group to learn how to skate or become a better skater. Then the second time slot is used for the College Hockey Club.”

Hollenbeck said that although the Hockey Club will probably just head out to Rocky River once the North Rec Rink closes, the ExCo group would have to be disbanded. “Many of the members car pool and I just don’t see them driving all the way to Rocky River or Strongsville and that is too bad. I have put a lot into this program over the last four years and I hate to see this happen.”

Brian Bellan of Elyria has been bringing his 10-year-old daughter Ashland to the Rink for 4 years. “She has been a member of the Learn to Skate and the Sparklers for each of the four years and loves it – or I should say loved it.”

Bellan said that one of the reasons he moved his family to Elyria was the parks system, primarily the Rec Center. “That was a huge selling point for us and now they are closing its doors. We’ll just have to start exploring our options; my daughter loves this and wants to continue so that could mean we begin looking for a new home in another city that has an Ice Rink. She will really miss coming here – she and the other girls are devastated.”


PHOTO GALLERY

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