With most of the country in winter’s iron grip, we rebroadcast a classic documentary by the late Bob Carty, on the pleasures and perils of creating a skating rink in your own backyard.
CBC Radio ·
Grant Lawrence's son skates on the backyard rink his dad built in East Vancouver. (@grantlawrencecbc/Instagram)
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In 2001, the late Bob Carty decided to put together a tribute to a uniquely Canadian activity: making ice rinks.
Not the city-operated outdoor rinks, or local arenas. Bob wanted to focus on the small, backyard rinks where so many Canadian hockey players and figure skaters practiced their slap shot, or landed their first double axel.
These home-made masterpieces must be shovelled and swept.
And the ice-maker must be willing to spend hours standing in the cold, watering the rink with a garden hose, all in anticipation of the deep satisfaction of creating a safe place for children — and adults — to play.
A family backyard rink in Saskatoon. (Jeff Clezy)
With record-breaking Arctic lows across the country this winter, it seems a good time to remind ourselves that there are at least a few good things about this season of cold and darkness.
Click 'listen' above to hear Bob Carty's classic radio documentary.
This documentary first aired on The Sunday Edition in 2001. Bob Carty was an award-winning documentary producer for The Sunday Edition. He died in 2014.
