FORT FRANCES – Alberton’s popular outdoor rink will be getting a roof, thanks to funding from the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation.
Kenora-Rainy River MPP Greg Rickford announced this week that the township will get up to $500,000 from the fund, which promotes economic prosperity in the North, for the rink roof project.
The township must finance 25 per cent of project costs while the fund will put up the other 75 per cent to a maximum of $500,000, Alberton Mayor Mike Ford said Wednesday.
Rickford also announced $495,000 in support for the Town of Fort Frances to revive Sunny Cove Camp, as well as financing for roadwork in Sioux Narrows-Nestor Falls.
“Our first goal is that the roof will keep that sun off of the ice” and thus extend skating time on the Alberton rink," Ford said.
As well, he added, a roof will turn the rink into a good venue for summer events like the community garage sale Alberton held last year.
Funding for Sunny Cove Camp follows last year’s decision by Fort Frances council to keep the property, which the town took over in 2009.
Town administration estimated last year that the old camp, the site of countless memory-making events in decades past, needed well over $500,000 in repairs.
“This funding will allow us to begin the process of carrying out much-needed renovations to Sunny Cove Camp with the goal of restoring it so that it is up to code and has the potential to reopen,” said Fort Frances Mayor Andrew Hallikas at this week’s funding announcement.
The Sunny Cove revitalization project’s total cost is estimated at more than $700,000. Rickford said the town will have to find the $200,000-plus not covered by the Heritage Fund financing.
The funding announcement in Fort Frances also included three other items ranging in value from $86,800 to $180,000.
The Township of Sioux Narrows-Nestor Falls is getting $180,000 to enhance the road corridor that runs through and between the Sioux Narrows and Nestor Falls townsites.
The Dance Township Community Association is getting $179,057 for kitchen renovations and other efforts to restore Dance Community Hall.
Rickford also announced $86,800 from the Heritage Fund for Fort Frances-based Constant Trucking to expand its services by purchasing a log loader.
