Skating at a school rink on a snowy evening in 1959

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Every Thursday, we feature an image from the StarPhoenix archives, curated by the City of Saskatoon Archives. Today, we see a group of children skating outside Buena Vista School on the rink’s foggy, snowy first night, from Nov. 21, 1959. (City of Saskatoon Archives StarPhoenix Collection S-SP-B13416-1)

From the StarPhoenix archives, Nov. 24, 1959:

Playgrounds Association director George Ward told the Star-Phoenix today the SPA won’t be able to meet all the demands of skaters this winter in the face of a continuing increase in the use of outdoor ice rinks.

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He said this morning that 63 hockey teams have joined the Playgrounds Association program this year, compared with 42 last year.

The SPA operates five hockey rinks and one public skating rink in the city. There are 19 school and community rinks.

In the SPA’s operating year, from January to December, last year, 37,232 persons attended the association’s six ice rinks during supervised hours in 1958. That total compared with only 26,574 in 1957 and 20,158 in 1956.

But Mr. Ward pointed out that the rinks were supervised only for four hours a day Monday through Friday and were used extensively at other hours by schools and adults.

“That figure (last year’s 37,232 total) could easily be trebled,” Mr. Ward said.

The rinks are used almost all day long on Saturdays and Sundays.

He credited a population increase and better skating weather for the annual increase in attendance.

The SPA rinks opened Saturday for the current season and Mr. Ward said children flocked to the rinks over the weekend.

Every public school in the city except North Park School has its own rink. The North Park School uses an SPA rink located nearby.

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Throwback Thursday is a weekly StarPhoenix series where we revisit photos from Saskatoon’s past.

Check out our entire collection here.

What moment in Saskatoon’s history from December would you like us to revisit next? Send suggestions to [email protected].

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