Queens Place ice surface. Photo Ed Halverson

By Rick Conrad

Groups who use the arena at Queens Place Emera Centre are juggling their January schedules as the region replaces a vital piece of ice-making equipment.

The Region of Queens, which operates Queens Place, announced on Dec. 29 that it had to cancel all on-ice activities immediately, until a new condenser could be installed.

The municipality had already planned to replace the condenser early in January, but it was forced to close the rink earlier than expected.

At a September council meeting, councillors approved the purchase of a new $255,000 condenser. Staff told councillors that the refrigeration equipment began to malfunction in late summer or early September.

Cimco Refrigeration was hired to repair a minor ammonia leak, but found several more problems. Only the arena is affected by the shutdown, though the indoor walking track is closed until Saturday.

The region hasn’t given a timeline for when the rink will reopen. But it said it will post notices online when the work is completed and the ice is reinstalled.

In a release late Friday afternoon, the region said work began on Jan. 2 and the new equipment has been installed.

“The refrigeration plant has resumed operation and staff are currently working towards reinstating the arena ice which will take several days,” the release said. No one from the municipality was available to comment.

Melissa Robinson is an executive member with the Queens County Blades. The group has almost 40 skaters who have had to look for ice time elsewhere with the closure. The club also holds a Learn to Skate program for youth.

Their members would typically use the Queens Place ice surface twice a week, four hours on Wednesdays and four and a half hours on Sundays.

They’ve been able to use other rinks in Shelburne and Bridgewater, Robinson said. And some of their members have gone as far as St. Margarets Bay.

“We definitely have lost ice time, because as an example the senior skaters would skate for two hours on a Sunday,” Robinson said. 

“Typically they only skate an hour and a half at other clubs. … Our higher level skaters are on the ice three to four to five days a week. So they’ll do two days at Queens Place and then they’ll scatter out to the other rinks with the other clubs.”

She said the club had to cancel a scheduled Skate Canada assessment day at Queens Place.

“So there’s been a little bit of disruption, definitely.”

Robinson says the club’s skaters have adapted.

“We’re just moving along accordingly. It’s unfortunate they can’t skate at Queens Place, but they can adapt at another rink and that’s just what we’ll have to do in the meantime and move along.”

Both Robinson and Terrena Parnell, president of the Queens County Minor Hockey Association, said they were notified in advance of the planned closure.

Parnell said by email that while the timing isn’t ideal, “Queens County Minor Hockey understands equipment can fail at any time and needs to be replaced.”

The association has 87 players, in addition to 29 members who are board members, coaches, managers or bench staff.

“The hope is that with weather co-operating and no unforeseen issues with the installation of the new condenser,” Parnell said, “QPEC will be up and running quickly and we will have lost less ice time than was scheduled with the original replacement dates.”

Parnell said that teams are playing away games in the meantime “and preparing for the reopening of QPEC to bring practices and home games back to the arena.”

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com

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A road sign announces Privateer Days in Liverpool in 2014. Photo Ed Halverson

Residents of Liverpool can breathe a collective sigh of relief as Privateer Days is not being disbanded.

Rumours swirled about the demise of the festival after the organizers posted on Facebook asking for volunteers to step forward and replace most of the board.

Privateer Days board chair Terrena Parnell says the event isn’t shutting down, but several board members, including herself are moving on.

“I’ve always believed that if you can’t give 100 percent then don’t do it. At this point, I have other things on the go that I’m not able to give 100 percent and I just feel it would be better in someone else’s hands,” said Parnell.

The Privateer Days board is looking for people to fill the senior roles of Chairperson, Vice Chairperson, Secretary, and Treasurer as well as Directors of Grants & Funding, Music, PR/Media Relations and Vendors.

Like every other festival in the province, the board has been unable to host Privateer Days for the past two years due to COVID restrictions.

Parnell is confident once the positions are filled at their annual general meeting in February the new board will have enough time to settle into their roles and put on the event at the end of June.

“We’ve pretty much got everything in place for them,” said Parnell. “It’s just a matter of moving forward with it and making any changes they feel they want to make or any additions and go from there.”

Parnell says the board was working to make Privateer Days a more family-oriented event, by bringing back fairground rides and revamping how entertainment was to be presented.

“We have three local drinking establishments directly across the parking lot from where Privateer Days is being held. So instead of having the entertainment tent as a “beer tent”, it would’ve gone back to an entertainment tent, and we would’ve supported our local establishments across the road to bring in some business to them as well and to really make it more of a community event,” said Parnell.

It will be up to the new board members to decide if they will follow through on that vision.

Due to current COVID restrictions the Privateer Days annual general meeting will be held virtually over Zoom at 7:30pm of February 24.

Anyone wishing to attend or put themselves forward for one of the vacant positions should contact the Privateer Days board through their website or Facebook page to receive the log on information.

E-mail: edhalversonnews@gmail.com
Twitter: @edwardhalverson

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Contributed by Terrena Parnell

A Christmas tradition is returning to Liverpool.

The 11^th annual Liverpool Fire Department Christmas parade is scheduled for November 28.

Co-chair of the organizing committee Terrena Parnell says the parade was cancelled last year due to the pandemic, but with restrictions easing this year it’s time to bring the event back.

“We felt that with the gathering limits lifted that it’s a great time to try and help people get into the Christmas spirit after the last 19 – 20 months that we’ve had,” said Parnell.

She and co-chair Diane Warner posted the notice to social media at the start of the week that they would once again organize the event and already over a dozen groups have committed to participating.

Parnell expects people will see all their favourites return this year including: marching bands, floats, community groups, four-wheelers, fire trucks and of course, Santa and Mrs. Claus.

Even though folks will be in a jubilant mood, Parnell says everyone still must practice COVID precautions including wearing masks and social distancing.

All participants walking or riding in the parade must show proof of vaccination.

Organizers are also working on providing a link to a live-stream of the parade on their Facebook page for anyone uncomfortable with being out in a large group.

Parnell and Warner have set themselves a tough task, trying to put together a parade in a month but Parnell says they are undaunted.

“The first year that Diane and I took it over, it was a month, and we had a huge parade,” said Parnell. “We’re hoping to have the same thing this year, with it just coming back after a year hiatus, we’re hoping that we’re going to have a humungous parade.”

Parnell says the community really gets behind the event with the Liverpool Fire Department, Region of Queens, and RCMP all donating time and resources to make it happen.

The parade will start from the Queens Place parking lot at 6:00pm and make its way through Liverpool before ending at Main and Market streets.

Anyone wishing to participate can contact Parnell (902-350-2762) or Warner (902-354-8177) through the Liverpool Fire Department Christmas parade page.

Parnell says she’s excited to once again be in the parade and look back on people who have come out to watch and share the Christmas spirit.

“I get to see the faces of kids and that is the most important thing,” said Parnell. “It’s all about community and it’s all for the kids.”

E-mail: edhalversonnews@gmail.com
Twitter: @edwardhalverson

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Photo contributed by Privateer Days Commission

Privateer Days has been called off again this summer.

The annual event, normally held near the last weekend in June, once again fell victim to the effects of the coronavirus.

Privateer Days Commission chair Terrena Parnell says the organizers are heartbroken to cancel the event, but they had to put public safety first.

“We have thousands of people coming to Privateer Days every year and there’s absolutely no way that we can have people in there volunteering, chasing people around saying, wear your masks, social distance, that type of thing. It’s just impossible to try to deal with something on that large of a scale,” said Parnell.

Like almost every other festival in 2020, Privateer Days was cancelled last year because of the restrictions put in place to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Parnell says many of the performers and suppliers scheduled to be part of last year’s event were waiting for the phone call to go ahead with this year’s event.

The commission has been keeping a close eye on the restrictions and the way the vaccine is rolling out across Nova Scotia and didn’t see how enough would change to allow the event to go ahead this year.

Parnell said, “We don’t think things are going to go back to normal for a while yet, and just felt that it was best for everyone involved, both spectators and the participants, to cancel early instead of waiting until the last minute and saying, oh, no, we’re not going to have it and have to turn everyone away.”

Parnell is aware some people think the event was cancelled too early but points out the logistics involved in mounting a festival of this size require time.

She says suppliers need to line up equipment and transportation to and from Liverpool. Uncertainty around border crossing rules between provinces could mean some suppliers, such as New Brunswick-based East Coast Amusement Rides may not be able to cross into Nova Scotia.

“With the restrictions and the bans in place, you don’t know what’s going to happen in the future,” said Parnell. “It may seem like we cancelled early, but it’s only six months away and those six months can go very quickly.”

Parnell says as the organization looks ahead to 2022 they are in a stable financial position. The commission is constantly looking for new sources of revenue, such as grants to fund the event.

But for next year, she would like to see locals dig in and show what the event means to them.

“I’m hoping that with everything being closed down for two years, that next year we’ll have the community and the business support when we do start our fundraising again to help us make a larger event a reality.”

Reported by Ed Halverson 
E-mail: edhalversonnews@gmail.com
Twitter: @edwardhalverson

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