29 June 2011

Skate in the City marked out and kicked off

| johnboy
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garema place

The movers and shakers gathered in Garema Place this morning for the media launch of Skate In The City.

As you can see from the photo there’s no ice yet but the skating area has been marked off and is soon to be filled with 24,000 litres of water.

Andrew Barr has put out a media release:

Today I joined with Canberra CBD Limited to announce Garema Place will take on a European feel this July – with the building of a temporary ice skating rink open to the public and other events in and around Garema including night markets and special school holiday activities.

This is a great innovation by Canberra CBD. It’s a great outcome for local businesses in Garema place, for tourism and for those looking for cool things to do in the city this winter.

The rink and markets will help attract people to the city on winter evenings – a time that is traditionally fairly quiet in the city centre.

And besides the fact it will provide Canberrans with a truly unique activity on their doorstep, the fact this outdoor skating rink is thought to be the only one in 300 kilometres of Canberra is sure to be a great draw card for visitors from our region to come to Canberra.

With no ice, there were mimes pretending to ice skate:

mimes

(If only someone would invent rollerblades)

The skating, and a packed program of events, starts from 1 July and if it goes well will become a regular feature of the Canberra winter.

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Wanon said :

Felix the Cat said :

If that marked out area is going to be the rink then I wonder how the tree roots/trunk will cope with being frozen?

The same way it handles getting frozen every morning with the frosts?

Na-ah,the soil never freezes in Canberra. Unlike in countries with colder winters where it can stay frozen down to a couple of metres below the surface for weeks. But in at least some of those countries they use those awful plane trees as street trees aswell, so they should be able to cope.

Felix the Cat said :

If that marked out area is going to be the rink then I wonder how the tree roots/trunk will cope with being frozen?

The same way it handles getting frozen every morning with the frosts?

It looks very small! Good to see they’re not advertising it as the largest outdoor ice skating rink any more since they noticed Brisbane have made their own much larger rink already this year!

Felix the Cat6:51 pm 17 Jun 11

If that marked out area is going to be the rink then I wonder how the tree roots/trunk will cope with being frozen?

Apparently the rink will be 360 square metres, and has a capacity of 200 people at a time. That would be pretty tight, I think. One goes down and it would have a domino effect. Still, I work in town and I’m sure I’ll get a few laughs watching people on it while I eat my lunch.

s-s-a said :

(If only someone would invent rollerblades)
LOL!!

I was going to ask on here about whether and cancellation, except I finally found the Terms and Conditions buried in the bookings web site (you have to be on the verge of payment to access them)

Terms and Conditions of use of the ice rink: This is an outdoor event and all ticket sales are final and there are no refunds. Skating will go ahead regardless of the weather. Patrons are advised to wear socks & gloves. Socks must be worn with the rental skates and are available for sale for $5 at the ice rink. Further Terms and Conditions are displayed at the site. All skaters are advised that whilst at the ice rink they may be photographed and their images displayed on the web site. Skaters and parents/guardians hereby give permission for the use of their images. IMPORTANT NOTICE RELATING TO RISK AND LIABILITY FOR LOSS &/OR INJURY Patrons are advised that there is risk of injury and loss due to injury that might be sustained whilst using the skating rink. Patrons acknowledge this risk, freely accept this risk, forever release and hold harmless Stars On Ice and the City of Canberra, CBD Limited in relation to any injury or loss that might be sustained. By agreeing to these terms, you are agreeing to accept marketing material from Stars on Ice.

Outdoor event, going ahead irrespective of the weather. Understandable from a bookings perspective, but makes pre-booking somewhat less attractive…

The waiver, like most, is only worth the pixels it’s written on if the proprietor complies with relevant safety requirements. I am also interested to see what might be included in “further Terms and Conditions … displayed at the site” ???

Another attempt to part fools from their money, they won’t be conning me

(If only someone would invent rollerblades)
LOL!!

I was going to ask on here about whether and cancellation, except I finally found the Terms and Conditions buried in the bookings web site (you have to be on the verge of payment to access them)

Terms and Conditions of use of the ice rink: This is an outdoor event and all ticket sales are final and there are no refunds. Skating will go ahead regardless of the weather. Patrons are advised to wear socks & gloves. Socks must be worn with the rental skates and are available for sale for $5 at the ice rink. Further Terms and Conditions are displayed at the site. All skaters are advised that whilst at the ice rink they may be photographed and their images displayed on the web site. Skaters and parents/guardians hereby give permission for the use of their images. IMPORTANT NOTICE RELATING TO RISK AND LIABILITY FOR LOSS &/OR INJURY Patrons are advised that there is risk of injury and loss due to injury that might be sustained whilst using the skating rink. Patrons acknowledge this risk, freely accept this risk, forever release and hold harmless Stars On Ice and the City of Canberra, CBD Limited in relation to any injury or loss that might be sustained. By agreeing to these terms, you are agreeing to accept marketing material from Stars on Ice.

Outdoor event, going ahead irrespective of the weather. Understandable from a bookings perspective, but makes pre-booking somewhat less attractive…

The waiver, like most, is only worth the pixels it’s written on if the proprietor complies with relevant safety requirements. I am also interested to see what might be included in “further Terms and Conditions … displayed at the site” ???

I was at the opening and didnt know those were paid actors. Honestly I thought they wre some mentally ill people who were having some sort of episode. They were behaving very oddly.

mouthface said :

Reminds me of a grumpy old aunt once telling me “Why go out for coffee? There’s perfectly good coffee at home!”

You have an ice rink at home? 😛

I hate ice skating! But if it attracts people to Civic and they have fun, it’s all good.

grunge_hippy8:35 pm 16 Jun 11

i wonder what their public liability insurance is like?

ice skating is fun. my dad made an ice rink in our backyard when i lived in canada. mind you -30 winters allow that with minimal fuss. the council used to flood the basketball courts in winter too. good times. i wouldn’t do it now though. too old, too fat, too unfit. i dont like the idea of broken bones!

surely this has got to be better than that big gigantic fail that was winter wonderland a few years back.

creative_canberran5:21 pm 16 Jun 11

You know it’s not a practical idea and sure, you can skate elsewhere but I really do think this is a good idea. At the very least it will inject some fun and life into a part of Civic mainly home to beggers, charity spruikers and boarded up shops.
Who remembers the Tuggeranong Hyperdome before the extensions when the Sizzler/Hungry Jacks entrance would be turned into a ski slope in Winter? Or Woden Plaza decades ago when they would build a whole Christmas display in Palm Court? You just don’t see this stuff anymore that breaks the monotony of retail areas. So good on them!

Grrrr said :

These temporary outdoor rinks are cute, but “truly unique activity”? Only if you can define indoor ice-skating as different from outdoors! There’s a perfectly good olympic-sized rink at Phillip.. http://www.swimskate.com.au/PublicSkating.aspx

Don’t be a stick in the mud! A bit of difference in the novelty factor between an indoor rink in Woden and an outdoor one in the city, don’t you think? Reminds me of a grumpy old aunt once telling me “Why go out for coffee? There’s perfectly good coffee at home!”

Overheard said :

“Truly unique” activities are so much more engaging than all those “falsely unique” activities one often hears of.

And much moreso than those very unique ones we keep hearing about.

Grrrr said :

These temporary outdoor rinks are cute, but “truly unique activity”? Only if you can define indoor ice-skating as different from outdoors! There’s a perfectly good olympic-sized rink at Phillip.. http://www.swimskate.com.au/PublicSkating.aspx

“Truly unique” activities are so much more engaging than all those “falsely unique” activities one often hears of.

Gungahlin Al3:26 pm 16 Jun 11

Chop71 said :

Gungahlin Al said :

That looks like it will be a little tight…

Body checks

LOL!

These temporary outdoor rinks are cute, but “truly unique activity”? Only if you can define indoor ice-skating as different from outdoors! There’s a perfectly good olympic-sized rink at Phillip.. http://www.swimskate.com.au/PublicSkating.aspx

Gungahlin Al said :

That looks like it will be a little tight…

Body checks

Gungahlin Al12:57 pm 16 Jun 11

That looks like it will be a little tight…

I like it but wasnt this gubbmint bitching about wasting water not 18 mths ago?

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