Media Release
ADAMA Canada
LUCKY LAKE - The heat is on at the Lucky Lake Community Center arena with an ice plant that is threatening to go down at any time and the cost of a new one going up every year.
“Our ice plant is over five years past its expected lifespan, and we started to raise funds to replace it before the pandemic hit,” says Riley Ayers, President of Lucky Lake Community Center Board. “At that time, I think the cost was around $375,000 and the updated quote we got last year saw it go up by around $200,000.”
Brandi Buhr from the local Simplot Grower Solutions outlet knew the board needed some help and connected Ayers with ADAMA Canada through that company’s Stomping Grounds program.
Ayers applied for a grant and in late June Haley Tetreault, an Area Business Manager from ADAMA, met Ayers, Buhr and some of her Simplot co-workers to present them with a cheque for $10,000.
“That’s a pretty big number for us,” says Ayers. “Since we started it seems like it’s two steps forward, one step back. We’re raising money for the new ice plant, but in the meantime the upkeep doesn’t stop and that keeps draining our funds. This is going to go a long way towards covering our butts.”
Ayers estimates they have raised about thirty percent of the money to cover the new estimate and says that with contributions like the one from Stomping Grounds he hopes they will be able to get the project underway before the price jumps again, something Tetreault can relate to.
“Every day seems to bring new increases in costs,” says Tetreault. “Then you hear a story like this where the town just wants to make sure the kids have a rink to go to and thanks to inflation it’s two steps forward and one step back. It felt really good to deliver that cheque.”
“In small towns like Lucky Lake these arenas mean everything and if that ice plant goes, we’re dead in the water. What ADAMA did here doesn’t surprise me,” says Ayers. “I’m a full-time farmer but I used to work at an ag retailer and ADAMA was always very good at supporting rural communities and farmers.”
