Grab your skates — the ice rink at Robson Square is making a much-anticipated comeback, possibly by this weekend.
Workers were on site yesterday unpacking skates and preparing to flood the surface to make ice.
“We had some refrigeration problems, but all should be resolved,” said Ron Fell of Smart Ice Consulting. “We should be skating by Sunday.”
Andrew Warwick, a skate technician with Robson Square who worked at the rink during the Olympics, said he thinks it will be popular again this year.
“We offer something you can’t get anywhere else in town,” he said. “It’s a nice place for a skate in the evening.”
Warwick said the rink should be ready for skaters by Sunday afternoon.
Mary McNeil, minister of Citizens’ Services, said she couldn’t confirm Sunday as opening day, but said she hopes to transform Robson Square into a permanent and vibrant community gathering place.
“For me that was the best part of the Olympics, being around (Robson Square),” said McNeil.
She added the ice rink could be Vancouver’s version of Rockefeller Centre in New York City or Nathan Phillips Square in Toronto.
“(It) was designed to do exactly that way back when Arthur Erickson first designed it, and we saw the potential last year during the Olympics,” McNeil said.
