CHESTERMERE – 84 Street just north of the TransCanada Highway is the border between Rocky View County and the City of Calgary and just on the west side of 84 Street lies a small acreage where Norm Price has his storage lot business aptly named 84th Storage Ltd. On the acreage is a large pond which until now has been a problem. In the summer the pond water raises so high with runoff, the road has to be closed off for a time while it slowly evaporates and drains away with the summer heat. Of course in the winter it’s frozen and not a problem until spring. In fact, Price sees this frozen pond as an opportunity to give back. You see Price is no stranger to giving back as this past August he gave one of his kidneys to his sister.
So once again he is giving back this time to the community as he takes on a huge project of building a rather large skating rink on the pond. This is his “Field of Dreams” where if he builds it, he hopes that people will come and use it. Price says “If you’re given lemons, make lemonade”. His nephew, who plays for the Chestermere Lakers, kind of inspired Price when he mentioned that it was pretty tough to get ice time to practice playing hockey with his team. Ice time is extremely hard to get even in Chestermere. This comment gave Price the idea to clear off a section of the 2 ponds on the property and have one as a pleasure rink for public skating and the other as a hockey rink. “There are no boards for the hockey rink but it still would give the kids a great outdoor rink to practice on” says Price. Obviously the ice surface is not as smooth as in an indoor rink but it’s not bad and he is hoping to find someone with a water truck who could stop by and flood the rink from time to time.
He has cleared the snow off the pleasure rink with is tiny snow thrower and made a large loop around the outside for those wishing to skate on “The Oval”. Price has even cleared out the basement in his home for those who get a winters chill and need to warm up for a short time before heading back out on the ice again. This is a perfect little set up for anyone who doesn’t want to travel all the way into Bowness Park for an afternoon skate. Eventually Price is thinking he may even set up a small “Lemonade Stand” to serve hot chocolate, snacks and hot dogs.
This is a big job for a single person to take on and even with Prices’ big heart he will need some help to clear the rinks when it snows. If you too have a big heart and can donate a few hours to help out or if your hockey team needs a place to practice, call Norm Price and let him know. His phone number is 403-922-6622.
