Great Skate #21 - Greenwood Park (renovated)

The weather on Sunday, January 5 was mild and snowy - a perfect day for skating. My friends and nieces joined me at the Greenwood Park rink. Those of you keeping track might notice that Greenwood has already had its Great Skate, but it's had such a dramatic makeover since then that I'm counting it as a new rink.

Two years ago, at Great Skate #8, the Greenwood Park rink looked like this:

Greenwood Park rink on February 11, 2012

It was a typical Toronto rink. Not beautiful, but it did the job.

Last winter, the rink was closed for renovations. It reopened in November, looking like the winner of a skating rink beauty contest:

Greenwood Park rink in November 2013

It used to be a single ice rink surrounded by a chain link fence, where you might feel a bit like a gerbil in a cage (if gerbils could skate). Now Greenwood Park has two rinks. One, used for shinny and skating lessons, is covered by a snazzy roof (which probably has some practical, keep-the-ice-icy purpose). The other rink is a figure-eight style trail, with lots of seating around it and also easy access to the changerooms.

For Great Skate #21, I was accompanied by my Five-year-old and Three-year-old nieces. (Seven-year-old was enjoying a relaxing day doing crafts.) It was Three's first time on real skates. It was their aunt's first time being solely responsible for getting children's skates and helmets on correctly. It only took me 12 minutes to get us all geared up!

Which meant we had time for one half-loop before the Zamboni came out. Sigh.

The Zamboni, on its second of three slow passes around the skating trail.
Waiting for the Zamboni to finish.
In the end, I think Three spent more time watching the Zamboni than actually skating, but she managed very well for the short time she was on the ice, before her mother arrived to take her home.

Five was more enthusiastic, skating with her school friends and doing a great job of keeping her balance. We stayed out for about an hour and a half.

I think Lisa needed to lean on her daughter
to keep her balance.
My friend Lisa also joined us for some skating, with her husband and daughters. Lisa hadn't been on skates in 10 years, she said. But she managed to keep up with her daughters, who are new to this whole skating thing and are already getting very good at it.

It was a good start to Great Skate 2014!






Location: Greenwood Ave, Toronto, ON, Canada

Comments

Ted said…
Go skate at Dufferin Grove Park on any Sunday daytime. Both rinks are for skating only on Sundays. It has a clubhouse with lockers to rent for a quarter, cafe, change room, and restrooms. Also it has $2 skate rentals.
January 14, 2014 at 1:59 AM
Leigh said…
Thanks for the suggestion, Ted! The rink at Dufferin Grove is definitely on my list.
January 20, 2014 at 7:46 PM
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