This snapshot of Samuel Smith Park’s new ice trail is the first in an occasional series on the best places to lace up in Toronto.
Eleanor and Peter Heinz drove Friday from their home near Yonge Street and Highway 401 to Etobicoke, to skate the new ice trail in Samuel Smith Park. Being thrifty, after entering the park at Kipling Avenue and Lakeshore Boulevard, the couple drove past Green ‘P’, where parking costs $2 per hour, and found a spacious lot about 100 metres closer to Lake Ontario, where parking is free.
I met the couple as we laced up in the spectacular Power House Recreation Centre. This red brick building from 1888 served for a century as the coal-fired heating plant that, via underground tunnels, piped warmth to the adjacent Lunatic Asylum. The asylum now houses Humber College. Its power house, lovingly restored with its 60-metre brick smokestack intact, 10-metre cathedral ceilings, three-storey windows and pine benches, is today the city’s most spectacular skate house.
“We haven’t skated in a couple of years,” confesses Mr. Heinz, lacing up. “My skates are so uncomfortable I have to have a good reason to put them on.”
The new Colonel Sam Smith Ice Trail, my friends, is a good reason. The City of Toronto, thanks in part to the work of Councillor Mark Grimes, has given a $2-million early Christmas gift to its residents, and it is glorious.
This is the first city artificial ice rink that, rather than being a rectangular hockey rink, is a trail. It is loosely described as a figure 8, but is in fact two roughly circular paths, connected in the centre, that wind through some of the park’s landscape. Underground pipes filled with ammonia cool the slab. When I arrived, 400 high school students had just departed. The speakers hooked to the period lamp posts piped Christmas carols — perhaps a bit loudly — including Ella Fitzgerald singing Santa Claus got Stuck in my Chimney.
The rink house staffer recognized me; we had met in the summer of 2009 when I started a Walk Across Toronto in a park on Etobicoke Creek. Does the city only have one Parks employee in Etobicoke or something? At any rate, our friend, who made me swear I would not name them (city orders) was in fine form, thrilled at this new facility. She climbed aboard her spanking new Zamboni, painted City of Toronto colours, blue and white — conveniently stored in the repurposed power plant — and, wearing a Santa Claus hat, resurfaced the 250-metre ice trail in 15 minutes flat. Talk about your customer service!
From 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., this rink is staffed. Skating is free. You’ll notice there is no fence around the trail. With a full moon it will be gorgeous. Skaters will flock here Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve. Hockey is officially prohibited; still, illegal games of shinny will doubtless spring up after closing time. There is a surface near the main entrance to the trail that is big enough for a small game. We’re Canadians; please don’t expect us to keep our sticks off the ice.
Even so, this hockey-free ice trail is a wonderful innovation for the thousands of locals who just want to pleasure-skate.
Steve Tipoff, 43, who lives in Scarborough and works in maintenance at Rouge Valley Hospital, played midget with the Wexford Raiders, but these days just skates to stay in shape. Friday he skated dozens of laps and worked up a sweat.
“This is fun for me,” he says. “This is one of my favourite things to do. Get exercise, be in the outdoors. It’s better than being in a rink. You’re in the fresh air.”
A teen girl wearing boots walked slowly across the surface, pulling a boy in skates, who had his arms wrapped tightly around her, perhaps not just to avoid falling down.
The Heinzes skated too, somewhat more slowly. “Wonderful,” declares Mr. Heinz.
The only possible improvement would be a cart selling hot cocoa. I hope we don’t need an Executive Committee report to get one of those out here.
Source: National Post
Read more: http://news.nationalpost.com/2010/12/18/skate-across-toronto-samuel-smith-park/#ixzz19DpAyl96
