She’s served us well, now it’s our turn to help her.
Memorial Arena has stood the test of time for 66 years, and we have the opportunity through the Kraft Hockeyville contest to receive a $100,000 upgrade for the venerable barn on Tweedsmuir.
Chatham has already cracked the top 10 in the Kraft Hockeyville contest, but now we need more online votes from March 21-23 to make it to the final two. If successful, we will end up in the championship round the following week.
To vote, on March 21-23, visit www.khv2015.ca/en/
It’s not as if local residents haven’t been down this road before. We landed Boardwalk in the Canadian Monopoly game in 2010. And a year later, Wallaceburg placed in the top 10 in the Kraft Celebration Tour.
There have been various ideas and plans put forth to replace Memorial for the past two decades, but for any number of reasons they haven’t come to pass.
Municipal staff have done an amazing job keeping the arena running as well as it has.
It could serve as a movie backdrop of a 1950s-style arena, but the reality is, age eventually catches up to everyone and everything.
There is a time when quaint just won’t cut it anymore and that time is drawing closer each season.
The arena has hosted Canadian championships in hockey, helped launch the careers of several National Hockey League players and world-class figure skaters, was home to ball hockey in the summer, and has served as a longtime Red Feather and Jaycee Fair headquarters, as well as more events than can be listed.
In addition to the cash, the winning community will host an NHL exhibition game next year. It would be a wonderful way to give the building one more night of glory before she gets the rest she’s earned.
