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The Thomson Trail Rink

Mulmur
ON

The Thomson Trail Rink began with a simple call for volunteers back in the summer of 2021 by
the Township of Mulmur and now we are embarking on our fourth season!
Our rink is located in the little town of Mansfield, Ontario in the Township of Mulmur within
Dufferin County.
The Township provides the materials and the community volunteers take care of the daily
maintenance. We also have great support from our local Rosemont Fire Department who help
us with water supply once we have the frame and liner in place.
The rink measures 50’ x 100’ and has seen a few transformations over the four seasons with
side and end board construction and last year’s addition of a liner protector/puck board to
minimize melting at the edges and improve puck play while playing the game! The Township of
Mulmur also provided a storage shed and lighting in our second season. In our third season a
generous donor provided us with an on-demand hot water system to make great ice.
The main construction of our rink is 2×10 side boards with 4ft end boards which have salvaged
puck board from a local arena covering them so you really have a true arena feel when you play
hockey on our outdoor rink.
Our rink is also large enough that if we have young skaters just getting into the sport we have a
sectioned off area for them and a game of hockey still going on. Everyone can be enjoying the
rink in their own way. We have had up to 30 skaters on the ice at one time and there’s still room
for more!
Community involvement has grown year over year. The first year was really just 4 volunteers
who maintained the rink and we have grown to about 8 now.
The kids who use the rink have grown over the years, and many are taking up some of the
responsibility of maintaining the surface by picking up the shovels after some game play and
clearing the surface without being asked. Family and friends from far and near also come
together at our community rink and if the weather is right some stay all day. There have been
many potluck lunches and dinners rinkside and the fun lasts all day long until the lights go dark
at 11pm. It is so great to hear of kids jumping off the school bus, going home and doing their
assigned chores quickly so they can head down to the rink. Some kids are even up early for a
skate before school. We have a figure skater who enjoys some extra practice time in the middle
of the day and we also have some seniors out on the rink during the weekdays.
We are hoping to add netting at the end board sections of our rink this year. Last year we
collected over 75 lost pucks from those over shooting the net and boards and most kids where
great sports and tromped in the snow in their skate in search of their puck, some with success
and some without, but we would love to provide a way to avoid that with some netting.

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