THE ETCHINGS
For starters, I was able to trace the publisher of the etchings. Originally wood engravings later made into prints, the images of this skating carnival were originally published in a British illustrated weekly newspaper/magazine called The Graphic (later The National Graphic) and were indeed published April 10, 1880. It's believed that these pictures depict a rink at Exhibit Hall on Tower Road and Morris Street that opened in 1880. The Nova Scotia Virtual Archives explain that "another local novelty was the skating rink at the Exhibition Building on Tower Road, officially opened in 1880. Ice carnivals were held there regularly, attracting upwards of 3000 spectators to watch hundreds of costumed skaters." So it looks as though Halifax had at least two covered rinks at that time, including the one at the Halifax Public Gardens, which we'll get to later. Trying to determine who actually designed the artwork is another story entirely: a mystery I haven't quite solved yet but am working on. Some of the other information I was able to find about skating's origins in Atlantic Canada was spotty at best but certainly full of information I didn't have a sweet clue about.
THE HISTORY
Photo courtesy Nova Scotia Archives
The Victoria Skating Rink in Saint John, NB circa 1872, courtesy the New Brunswick Museum
Confusingly, the Victoria Skating Rink where Halifax's Creighton essentially started Canada's obsession with long sticks and balls (Hey Girl Hey!) wasn't the only Victoria Skating Rink on the go at the time. The Victoria Skating Rink was built in Saint John, New Brunswick in 1864 on the present site of the Colonial Inn on City Road and designed by Charles Walker. By all accounts, it was quite a stunning piece of architecture. The rink opened on January 5, 1865. 50 metres in diameter, it had a circular form, 39 windows and was topped by a 24 metre high dome. The rink was open for 37 years and its annual opening for the winter holiday season was an anticipated and popular event. By 1900, the rink had its own brass band, which played two even a week and season tickets 'sold like hotcakes'. Those hotcakes, always selling so well! The Victoria Rink wasn't Atlantic Canada's only indoor skating rink or the first either. The East Coast's first indoor rink was built in Halifax in 1863 as a private club - the Halifax Skating Rink at the Public Gardens. The rink was constructed of wood and had an arched roof and an elevated platform to play host to musicians. Fittingly, such a grand structure as Victoria Skating Rink couldn't have been at a more significant place: the first skating club in Canada opened in 1833 on Lily Lake in Saint John.
Coleen Moore-Hayes' piece "'See You At The Forum': Pleasure Skating The Cape Breton Way" was a wonderful source of information! Moore-Hayes' research confirmed that in 1936, John Quinpool "wrote in Halifax's First Thing Publishers that the earliest record of skating in America was DeMont's expedition to Acadia in 1604. Young Acadian men stationed at St. Croix, New Brunswick, hunted rabbits by skating across frozen ponds and brought their quarry down with snowballs. When the settlement was transferred to Port Royal, Nova Scotia, a year later, that community was credited with establishing the first permanent skating rink in Canada". Moore-Hayes went on to explain that in 1861, the first metal-spring skates were produced in Halifax and they were popular sellers not only locally but internationally as well. Here's where it all sources back to those etchings: "In the late 1800's, party-goers dressed in formal attire would attend costume balls and carnivals in skating rinks. Platforms and chairs were built at the edge of the ice surface and patrons would be treated to games, music and entertainment." The puzzle comes together! Check that out. Right some fancy!
What about Cape Breton? It's not all bagpipes and Rouge Fatale fan clubs, you know. It turns out most of the early rinks in Cape Breton were outdoor and owned and operated by churches. In Sydney, St. Theresa's Parish rented a plot from the Dominion Steel And Coal Corporation and turned it into an outdoor rink in 1936. Hockey teams played there and skating parties were held every Saturday night, weather permitting. Music became a popular part of outdoor pleasure skating. 78 r.p.m. records were played on gramophones with a horn used to amplify the sound at the Sydney rink. The Arena Rink on Inglis Street was Cape Breton's first indoor skating rink. It was replaced in the 1930's by the Sydney Forum. Pleasure skating in pairs to live bands was a popular tradition at the Sydney Forum.
Photo courtesy Nova Scotia Archives
Photo courtesy Nova Scotia Archives
Tracy Wilson and Rob McCall's Olympic bronze medal winning free dance at the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, Alberta
As skating clubs developed, so did their skaters. Marie MacNeil and the late Rob McCall, both of Nova Scotia, won the Canadian ice dancing title in 1981. McCall went on to win another 7 Canadian titles with Tracy Wilson as well as the 1988 Olympic bronze medal before turning professional and touring with Stars On Ice until his tragic death at the age of 33 in 1991. John Mattatall of Wallace won the Canadian bronze medal with partner Mylene Brodeur in 2009 and had a very successful international pairs career. With 20 Nova Scotian skaters off to the Skate Canada Challenge hoping to qualify for Canadian Nationals, the future certainly looks brighter than ever.
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