“It doesn’t take a majority to win, just a tireless minority that will keep starting brush fires in the mind and hearts of their fellow men.”

Samuel Adams

Sunday, December 11, 2011

News Tribune - News - Local - Peru gets skating rink ready

News Tribune - News - Local - Peru gets skating rink ready

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Even though the line was donated why would we spend $1700 on something that will only last 1 year? Hopefully if we plan on repeating this next year we could maybe consider a more centrally located park.

Anonymous said...

I completely agree 3:56. Why not first find a central location and then spend the money on a liner that will last more than one year.

Anonymous said...

Is a liner the BEST WAY TO HOLD frozen water(ICE) ?

This seems dumb to me . In Chicago the skaters have been skating for the past month, where is Peru ? Late as usual because according to the paper it will take about 4-5 weeks before the local rink is ready? It surely looks like we are being supported by employees/management that do know very much about these very basic issues.

Anonymous said...

Anyone attending this last weeks council meeting witnessed the Mayor totally ignore and dismiss the public from having a say BEFORE ANY ISSUE LIKE THE $3m BOND WAS VOTED ON? The news tribune DOES NOT ACCURATELY PRINT WHAT ACTUALLY GOES ON IN THE MEETING. They seem to protect the Mayor Harl and only print what will make him look good.
Well once again it was MAYOR HARL'S VOTE that passed the borrowing of $3M, (city of Peru goes deeper in debt).
Another reason to remember and vote the Mayor out of office in 2013. PEOPLE WAKE UP WE DO NOT HAVE TO TAKE THIS BEHAVIOR OF "I AM GREATER THEN THEE" even if you voted me in office.

Question: who does the Mayor work for ???????

Anonymous said...

In Chicago, they have a unit under the base to freeze the water, we have to wait until its cold enough. I think the employees and officials know what they are doing with the ice rink, 8:21. Its you who don't know whats going on.

Peru Town Forum said...

10:59 AM
Whats wrong with a unit under the base so the ring could be used more as we get such extremes of weather that a rink is unusable much of the winter.
A very long time ago when LaSalle and Peru maintained fantastic ice rinks and warming shelters, they seemed to know how to make things work. Apparently the skill has been lost.
But the one in Peru was maintained privately by the Westclox company. Probably built for their employees but open to all. It has a huge rink, music and a warming barn with a real stove. Now with the progress in the world it would probably be destroyed by vandalism and it makes one wonder how much progress has been made and I wonder why people have become so destructive.

Art Giese said...

I think it is great that Peru is getting a nice skating rink with plans in the future of having a better rink. I can remember ice skating with my father on the streets when cinders were put down for automobiles traction and the sparks would fly when the blade hit a cinder or worse yet you would stop and go tumbling. I can also remember the city rink in Washington Park across from Washington grade school.
Not having the privilege of being as old as Methuselah I cannot claim to remember skating at Westclox Rink with a stove and clampons. Lois now you have me wondering what people skated to before 33 1/3 records, wind up phonographs, radios and public announcement systems were invented.
Its wonderful that the city officials are working on having a form of inexpensive entertainment that everyone (those single, couples, and families) can enjoy.

Peru Town Forum said...

I don't know about the music, maybe 78's.but I did have white figure skates that were something I was so pleased to have been given. Even wore them when I skated with my kids at Washington Park.

I do question the Veterans Park location because it was tried once before and there were problems. I believe Chamlin Engineering turned the former rink into much needed parking and the reason was that no one was using the rink.
Before that it was the slew south of the river and it was also another poor location because children were not able to get their on their own.
It was suggested that we flood the tennis courts in several locations all conveniently located in populated areas where everyone especially youngsters could walk to. There would even be lighting at Washington Park. It sounded too good to be true because all of a sudden we were back to Veterans Park.
It will be interesting to see what happens the second time around.

Anonymous said...

The old rink at Veterans park was designed incorrectly. Take a wild guess who engineered it. It leaked and the dirt/sand from the fields/diamonds blew across the rink everytime we had a winter storm. Duh. Someone wasn't thinking about the big picture. Wind in winter time? In Illinois? I dare you to look up the enginners bill to design, and redesign, and redesign that fiasco.

Peru Town Forum said...

With the winter weather scenario you just described, I expect that we will have a repeat of the blowing dirt and sand unless some barriers are put in place. Those darn cornfields have sure caused a lot of trouble, haven't they?
When I look up the bill, maybe the minutes and vote to put the rink in place might be interesting too.

Sherry Mayszak said...

Art,
Thank you for saying something POSITIVE about the skating rink. It sounds like both you and Lois have wonderful memories of skating when you were younger, and that's what I hope today's kids and families will get from our efforts to bring a skating rink back to Peru. It may not be perfect this year, but I'm confident that every effort will be made to make it as good as it can be this year and improve it for next year. Have you gone out to see it? It looks beautiful and huge! I can see why it wouldn't work on the tennis courts.

Lois,
If you find that info about the bill for engineering and the minutes & vote, please post it. I'm very interested in seeing it and am happy you have the time to look into it.

Art Giese said...

Sherry,
The skating rink is full of water ready to freeze for the Christmas Holidays and everyone to enjoy. The fellows from the Peru Electrical Department were working on the lights when I was there this afternoon. It would be nice to have some tables and benches around the rink with signs on the roads to warn drivers to be cautious because of walkers and children on bikes traveling to the rink. Also a couple signs to tell people that there will be cars exiting the Plank Road to enter the skating area. In the late 40's and 50's I can remember a spirited old gentlemen by the name of Leonard DeGroot ice skating at the slew. Does anyone know how old he would have been at the time? GOOD JOB PERU!