1971. It was cold. Three of us, Alban MacAulay, Earl Dwan, and myself went to look the woods over to see what it was like and there was a chill factor that day of fifty below. Roddie “Strong” MacDonald was the foreman. The lumber was cut in January and by Holy Week, Maritime Electric dug the holes for the posts. It was put up that spring and finished by the fall. The kids and the ice sports were about the most exciting. You’d be there all winter with the school and the ice sports. (38)

For many years Joe booked the ice time, flooded, and cleaned the ice. There were a few occasions where Joe, after flooding all night, walked out into the midst of an infamous St. Peters snow storm to discover the roads had drifted in, which resulted in spending the night at the rink until the plow came through in the morning.

The one major change the rink underwent was the cement floor, which was installed in the fall of 1990. Seventy volunteers from the community and neighboring communities helped to lay the 2000 wheelbarrows of cement that fall. (39) This enabled the rink to be used for events in the summer as well as in the winter, such as the Blueberry Festival dances, which are held annually in the rink.

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St. Peters Pioneers Photo courtesy of Lillian & Stephen Petrie.

According to Lillian Petrie, this picture was taken after the Pioneers had won a tournament in Morell. There was no trophy, so Victor MacKinnon put the bucket in front of the players to represent their “Winning trophy."