Second rink planned for Moosomin

Local foundation, not local taxpayers, will pay for rink

May 18, 2026, 12:08 pm
Ashley Bochek, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Community leaders have come together to plan and break ground this summer on a second rink for Moosomin. The rink will be located at the site of the former Federated Co-op Feed Mill and will be built without burdening local taxpayers, as a community foundation is being established, with the rink as the first project for the new foundation.

Discussions on a community foundation have been going on for the past year. Dan and Olga McCarthy wanted to start the ball rolling on a second rink. The plan for the rink and the plan for the foundation came together at a meeting of a dozen people in January. Now site work is underway, and construction will begin this summer.

Dan and Olga McCarthy, who had the vision for a rink, were at the meeting, as was Kristjan Hebert, who has been working on the idea of the community foundation for Moosomin.

Mayor Murray Gray and Recreation Director Mike Schwean were there, as were several Community Builders Alliance members, including CBA president Tyler Thorn and Moosomin-Montmartre MLA Kevin Weedmark.

By the end of the meeting a rough plan had come together and Schwean commented at the time that he had thought the meeting would be the start of a years-long process, not that it would lead to immediately building a rink.

Airport project led to endowment fund idea

Kristjan Hebert of the CBA says the airport project was an inspiration for the foundation.

“The foundation discussions started about a year ago at a CBA meeting. We were trying to figure out how we could have a rural renaissance for community infrastructure, after the airport expansion was completed. The discussion led into what some American universities do, and how their endowment funds help with a lot of their success. We began to think about instead of just raising money and putting it into the next asset, how do we start this fund for boosting the area.

“Then the new rink idea came up with a group of local entrepreneurs and lit the fire under getting the endowment fund started.”

Hebert explains the foundation will be an avenue for the community to donate toward the new arena.

“We plan on launching the foundation to the community probably toward the end of June. The paperwork part is just getting done so that anybody in the community will be able to donate to it.

“Those funds will then be invested, and the earnings off that will pay for projects in the future, the first of which is the rink. The endowment fund will lease the rink to the town for $1 and the town will operate it. We’re probably going to have to take a mortgage out on the rink in order to pay for it before the foundation is fully up and running. But the goal is that if we raise this money in the foundation, we have some fairly big targets of what we want to do through private and public partnerships. That way we won’t spend the whole budget on the rink. The earnings of the investments will pay for the rink, and then the next project, and then the next project.”

“For now, the CBA will be in charge of getting the community foundation started. Then after it’s all up and going, there will be an appointed board. This board won’t be limited to CBA members.

“The current estimate for the cost of the rink is around $10 million. So the goal of the foundation will be a minimum of $10 million. The town is 100% paying all operating costs. But the foundation will save the town all of the capital investment initially.”

Vision for new rink

Hebert explains the new rink will look similar to West Edmonton Mall’s indoor ice surface.

“I think an easy way to envision what the new rink will be like would be to think of the rink inside the West Edmonton Mall. We’re leaning toward a sunken ice surface with standing room all the way around the top and bottom, and a walking track on the top. It’s going to be similar in size to the Communiskate facility in White City.”

Hebert says the foundation is to help fundraise for the new rink and the start toward future community projects.

“As a group of entrepreneurs we have a goal, and we hope everybody in the community supports that goal. If we can use the money made from the foundation to build local infrastructure, we can keep municipal and local budgets strictly for the operation of those facilities. I think we’ll be able to show that we as a community can solve our own problems with not as much government assistance.

“We’re going to work with the Saskatchewan Community Foundation. They’ll be the ones that will manage our foundation’s assets. They’re a not-for-profit organization, and they have really low fees. They already manage and invest the funds from many other foundations, and that number has got to be close to $100 million.”

Foundation to take donations soon

Hebert says donations to the foundation should be able to be made by the end of June.

“We plan on launching it end of June, that’s when people can start writing cheques and donating. The rink project has gained significantly more steam than we had originally thought. We’re going to try our best to get the foundation up and running, raise money, and build the rink all simultaneously. That might be a bit of a juggling act, but I’m confident we can do it. We could wait until the fund is fully running, but at the same time we don’t want to lose the momentum that we have on those projects. I think you’re going to see a lot of construction on the rink this year, and hopefully we can get to completion as early as mid 2027.”

He explains the new rink will allow winter sports to start earlier in the fall. “I think the new rink would be extremely beneficial to the town. In the new rink, the ice would go in earlier in the year and stay in later, because with the newer facility it’s much more efficient and better for the environment. I believe it’s estimated to hold around 650 fans. So, besides a Rangers playoff or provincial game, it could host any game that the Mike Schwean Arena hosts without seating issues.”

Hebert hopes a new rink along the old highway will spur new development.
“As a group of entrepreneurs, we would also really like to see more development along the old Number One Highway. Hopefully with a new rink right on that street, more businesses will move into the area.”
He said he hopes to be able to raise $10 million locally through the foundation to build the rink.

“I was very involved in fundraising for the airport. So I got thinking about this community, as the Spectator has written many times, Moosomin and area, can raise money and support projects as good or better than any community.

“We raised $10 million for the hospital and $10 million for the airport. If we just started the foundation when we did the hospital and put the $10 million raised for the airport in it, I truly believe we’d have a hospital, we’d have an airport and we’d still have $20 million. I want to raise money that will keep supporting projects, because this area and this community has huge potential between the people, and anchor companies such as Nutrien, all the agriculture, all the oil and all our small businesses.”
Hebert said he believes Moosomin is unique.

“I’ve been to a lot of different communities, and I think we have a very unique group of entrepreneurs in this community that are willing to write pretty big cheques to a lot of projects, we have a number of community members that jump right in and put a lot of sweat equity into the same projects. I, as every other entrepreneur in the area, want our kids and our grandkids to come back here, and if we don’t have the right services when it comes to health care, education, sports and rec, they’re not going to and so how do we come up with a way that we’re not always just phoning the government for the next 100 years and walking into town council for the next 100 years saying ‘we need this,’ with our hands out and not having a plan. So we thought, if we can get this foundation—we’re looking for local, provincial and federal government support to get it off and running. But the goal is that we can have our destiny in our hands and create our own little rural renaissance that other communities can then replicate.”

He adds, “It’s exciting! If everything goes as planned, and we can start off the foundation with the rink it’ll be something that our community should be extremely proud of.”

He says the foundation and rink ideas were formed after talking with McCarthys.

“Dan and Olga have always been part of the discussions when I first came up with the foundation idea, they had already loved and supported that and obviously they are huge part of the community. So we got together and combined the two ideas.

“The one pushback on a foundation from the government is if we do this foundation, there’s no quick return. We can’t show jobs, we can’t show assets because everyone wants to put it away for two or three years first. So it was to combine the two ideas together.

We’re going to put a shovel in the ground on an asset right away to prove that our idea is going to work and that we’re behind it.

“We think our timing is pretty good to get support on the foundation. But we also feel that the rink project is a critical piece to get support for the foundation, so that we can show all levels of government and all levels of private companies—we’re not just raising this money to let it sit there. We’re raising money for action, and we believe an foundation that’s guided by entrepreneurs can create a lot of action for the community—for what the community needs.”