Just like in the movie Field of Dreams, a group of locals are testing to see if they build it people will come and hoping that it will apply to skating and not just baseball.
Specifically, they hope Langdonites will come out an enjoy the new outdoor skating rink that they have cleared on Weed Lake North of Town.
Rolly Ashdown was inspired by the Rideau Canal, and recruited some local help to create, what Ashdown is calling the Langdon Ice Fields which consist of a skating rink and track on Weed Lake.
“I saw a commercial on TV when they were skating on Rideau Canal and I thought why don’t we do that?
We’ve got this big Weed Lake here,” said Ashdown.
The first thing they did was check the depth of the ice for safety. One of the volunteers took his ice auger and drilled about 80 holes at various locations on the lake.
“There’s about a foot and a half of ice,” said Ashdown.
He said that the lake is only about three feet deep where they decided to build the rink.
Two more volunteers, Braden Szakaly and Dave Pickering brought over some heavy equipment and used a bobcat with a large blade and a brush and a snow plow to start clearing away the snow.
“So they went out there, and went on that ice…and they smoothed off big area,” said Ashdown.
Access to the rink is at the end of Township Road 240 East of Range Road 797.
Since Township Road 240 isn’t an improved road Ashdown stresses that both skating and accessing the lake is done at one’s own risk.
Ashdown is working to create a committee to maintain and organize the rink and explore whether there is interest to make clearing Weed Lake to create the Langdon Ice Fields an annual event.
“I hope it becomes something that people get a kick out of and use a lot,” he said.
