Celebrating Silver Bay’s New Outdoor Rink Recreation Area with Ribbon Cutting Ceremony

The official ribbon cutting cere­mony for the new Silver Bay Out­door Rink Recreation Area took place last Wednesday, June 18^th at 4 PM outside Rukavina Arena. The purpose of the ribbon cutting was to celebrate the completion of the project and, more importantly, to thank all the people and organiza­tions who made it happen, whether it was through financial donations or volunteering their time.

Silver Bay’s Mayor, Wade LeB­lanc, kicked things off by wel­coming everyone and stating how important this new, beautiful asset is to the Silver Bay area and how proud he is of the volunteers for stepping up to complete the project.

Project manager, Shane Hoff, briefly recapped the project, which includes the following amenities: Outdoor hockey rink, four complete pickleball courts, a pleasure skating area and two picnic areas. Hoff also thanked all the groups that contrib­uted, totaling over $150k financial­ly and over 300 volunteer hours.

They include:

• Steve VanHouse and VanHouse Construction – thank you for all the volunteer hours, equipment and expertise donated to this project.
• Lake County and Lake County Recreation Board (Commis­sioner Rick Goutermont and Rec Board member Ray Churak were in attendance) – thank you for the donation and all the gravel, equipment and man­power that went into the base for the project.
• Silver Bay Blue Line Club (Nick Bjerken, Gus Engstrom and Becky Roswold were in attendance) – thanks to all the Blue Line Club members for their volunteer hours getting the hockey rink installed and their financial commitment and own­ership of the project.
• City of Silver Bay Parks/Rec and Public Works (Steve Gra­den was in attendance) – thanks to both of these departments for all their many hours dedicated to the project.
• Cliffs Northshore Mining (Gen­eral Manager Shane Holman was in attendance) – thanks to Cliffs’ commitment to the Sil­ver Bay community, including Sandy Karnowski for her sup­port in the early stages of the project.
• North Shore Federal Credit Union (Tracy Tiboni and Bran­don Swanson were in atten­dance) – thanks to the credit union for their continued sup­port and Brandon in particular for his volunteer hours and ded­ication to pickleball in the Sil­ver Bay area.
• Minnesota Power, Lloyd K. Johnson Foundation, Isabella Community Center and Dulu­th/Superior Area Foundation – thanks to all these organizations for the great financial support.
• Thank you also to Micah Tain­tor, owner of Thrive Fencing, for installing fencing on the rink with very short notice in winter weather and giving a great hometown price.
• A huge thank you to the Sil­ver Bay Pickleball group who painted the asphalt surface of the hockey rink with several coats of acrylic paint and creat­ed four of the nicest pickleball courts in the area!

Nick Bjerken, Blue Line Club President, explained the future vi­sion of the project and how it will provide opportunities for the com­munity for years to come.

Rick Goutermont, Lake County Commissioner, shared that, due to the high level of local commitment and planning, his decision to sup­port the project was an easy one.

Bryan Carpenter, Silver Bay Parks and Rec Manager, was un­able attend due to an emergency, but wanted everyone to know how proud he is of this new facility and that his department is committed to keeping it in great shape.

Next, attendees and volunteers took a few group pictures, cut the ribbon, and toured the area.

It was a beautiful day to wrap up a great project for locals and visi­tors alike to enjoy for many years to come!