The Sylvain Routhier Rink at Bird Park

We have been getting inquiries about whether or not the rink will be going up this year. Unfortunately at the end of last season the committee was looking for someone else to take charge and no one stepped up. It took an enormous amount of time to coordinate and manage. The boards and lights were given away at the end of last season. Our hope is the City would try to get a rink there again in the future. Please check out the Bridge and Sidney Community rink in the east end or Victoria Harbour when it’s ready. Thank you for 3 great winters of skating on the Sylvain Routhier rink!!!

I want to express a special thank you to everyone who has helped us with the outdoor rink for the past 3 winters. It has been such a joy and honour for our family to see local families and kids be able to use the rink that Sylvain built 9 years ago in our backyard. Unfortunately, this winter was the last year for it.

A special thanks to Councillor Bill G. Sandison, Duvanco Homes, Belleville Fire, Canadian Tire, St. Lawrence Pools, Andrea Bird, Mike Dowdall, and everyone else who helped shovel and maintain the rink.

It is a huge volunteer undertaking to plan and organize an outdoor rink, and unfortunately I can no longer take this on and the boards were in really rough shape. I have reached out to our local Councillor Bill G. Sandison after each winter to see if the City of Belleville can take over this project and we have been reassured that they are looking at getting outdoor rinks added to the Recreation Master Plan so hopefully this can be done again in the future.

In the meantime, if you are interested in supporting our local scholarship programs or other mental health initiatives in memory of local police sergeant, Sylvain Routhier, please see our website attached or our page. Thank you again for all your support!!!

The Sylvain Routhier Memorial Foundation

Home - Sylvain Routhier Foundation Sylvain Routhier Memorial Foundation

That’s a wrap! With the warm weather this week, the rink will officially be closed for the year. A HUGE special thanks to all the volunteers who helped make this happen for another year! A special shout out to Duvanco Homes, Belleville Fire Department, Mike Dowdall for watering the rink every night, the Smith Family for providing the electricity, Andrea Bird for helping with social media, and everyone who came out to shovel!

Warm weather and rain has closed the rink. Please stay off of it and fingers crossed it gets cold again!

Hey everyone! We may only have a couple weeks of skating left which means we need to start preparing to shut down and thinking about next year. We are looking for someone to take over overseeing the rink for next winter. This is a huge volunteer commitment however, if we cannot find someone, the rink may not go back up next winter. If you are interested please comment below or send me a PM. Thanks!

Unfortunately our rink lights are not working at the moment. We hope to have them up and running soon. The rink remains open.

FYI - there will be some mornings in the next couple of weeks where the St.T’s hockey class will be using the rink until the wellness centre reopens. Glad we are able to help them out!

We are asking if when you are done with the nets, you please take them off the ice so we avoid any damage like in the pic. Also, we seem to be out of pucks so please bring your own. I’m sure we’ll find a bunch in the spring under all the snow! Another thanks to our volunteers for helping maintain the rink!

Rink is back open! It was watered last night and shovelled this morning. It’s still a bit bumpy but will be watered again tonight. Enjoy!

Due to the warmer weather today, the rink is closed for the night. We hope to have it reopened tomorrow. Please stay off the ice so it does not get damaged!

Some skaters enjoying the nice night under the lights!