Head bobbing and fists pumping the air, Pierce County Executive Pat McCarthy steered a big Zamboni ice-resurfacing machine through a red ribbon at Sprinker Recreation Center on Saturday, officially reopening the skating rink following a renovation that took eight months and cost $6.5 million.
McCarthy, decked out in a Detroit Red Wings road jersey, enthusiastically addressed a crowd of slightly more than 100 people gathered to celebrate the reopening of the Spanaway facility.
“Driving the Zamboni will probably be the single most fun thing I’ll ever do as county executive,” McCarthy told them.
McCarthy called the renovation a “cost-effective, common-sense solution” and praised county staffers and residents for their determination in seeing that it happened.
“I have said all along that Sprinker needs to be part of our community’s future, not just the past,” McCarthy said, before urging audience members, “Let’s get out there and skate.”
Two years ago, it looked as if the ice rink portion of the 35-year-old, 74,000-square-foot building would have to be shut down until the county could come up with as much as $35 million for complete renovation.
Sprinker supporters feared that if that happened, the facility might never reopen, and they lobbied hard for a less-expensive, quicker solution.
“This is all Spanaway has,” Donna Mounts, one of the most determined and vocal supporters, said following Saturday’s ceremony, as kids streamed out onto the ice.
“There’s no YMCA, no Boys & Girls Club here,” she said. “We don’t have anything. I’m in education and I see what happens when kids have nothing to do.”
Kent McLaren, senior project manager for Tacoma-based BCRA, the Sprinker project architect, explained that the aging building had so many air leaks, its dehumidification system was overwhelmed. Moisture condensed on the metal roof, he said, which turned to rust.
Skaters were forced to maneuver around buckets placed on the ice to collect dripping condensation, Mounts remembered.
Repair involved stripping off the roofing, sandblasting the ceiling trusses and removing and replacing the entire floor system, along with a new underground refrigeration and ground heating system.
“We gave the county a list, and they chose what they wanted and could afford,” McLaren said.
The result is good enough, said excited members of the Lakewood Winter Club, a figure-skating club.
Lakewood Winter Club skaters performed at the reopening ceremony and afterward, when the ice was opened to the public, a dozen of the girls hugged one another on the ice, dancing and chanting, “One, two, three. We’re home!”
Rob Carson: 253-597-8693
rob.carson@thenewstribune.com
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