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'ICE QUEST': Struggle is real

| May 24, 2023 1:00 AM

Josa Snow’s “Ice quest” article (Sunday, May 21) correctly portrays the rapidly growing need to accommodate ice sports and recreation programs (e.g., youth/adult hockey, figure skating, public skating sessions, curling, etc.). The need is much greater now than when the “new” Frontier Ice Arena opened its doors in Coeur d’Alene in September 2012. Fundraising for and subsequent construction of the FIA began shortly after the old Kootenai Youth Recreation Organization Ice Arena’s roof collapsed in late December 2008.

Fortunately, the KYRO board of directors, the Coeur d’Alene Hockey Association and many others had the vision to design the Frontier Ice Arena to allow for an attached, larger “arena” that will seat 800+ spectators, have several more locker rooms and another Zamboni garage. This second “arena” is designed to share the Frontier Ice Arena’s current 4,000-square-foot lobby, snack bar, restrooms and party/event room. The FIA’s current “chiller” is already built/plumbed to accommodate two sheets of ice.

An interim, but cheaper and quicker way to get more “ice time” for those in Bonner and Boundary counties could be a collaborative effort with the KYRO/Frontier Ice Arena/CDAHA folks to build the second arena at Frontier. Part of that effort could be to develop and initiate a transportation plan to ease the burden of transporting folks to and from the Frontier arena (e.g., rotating the use of school buses among the public school districts in both counties). In any case, kudos again to those promoting/supporting efforts for more “ice time” in Bonner and Boundary counties.

SKIP FULLER

Coeur d’Alene