An increased number of people are public skating in Windsor, but it is costing the city.
According to a report that went before council Monday, 115 free indoor public skating sessions were offered during the 2023–2024 skating season at four arenas across the city: the WFCU Centre, Capri Pizzeria Recreation Centre, Adie Knox Herman Recreation Centre, and Forest Glade Arena.
Just over 10,000 people took advantage of the free skating, a 27% increase in total participation compared to the last time a fee was charged in 2019–2020.
At that time, participation numbers for the year were approximately 7,920.
But the report indicates that providing free skating resulted in the city missing out on $30,000–$35,000 in lost revenue.
Cory Elliott, Manager of Arenas and Recreation Facilities, says Forest Glade Arena saw the biggest increase.
"The average skater went to a number of 160 per hour, which meant we had people actually waiting to get in for skating," he says. "It's a Friday night skate, so you'd have young kids, teenagers. People would be lined up waiting to get in; they'd wait as people came out, and they'd get the opportunity to go in as well."
Forest Glade Arena saw the highest response to free skating in 2023-2024 with 4,255 participants over 26 public skating sessions, followed by the Capri Pizzeria Recreation Centre with 2,896 participants over 56 sessions, the WFCU Centre had 2,442 people take part in the 26 sessions, and Adie Knox Arena had 456 people across 11 public skating sessions.
Free public skating will be offered in 2024-2025, but council will make a decision during 2025 budget deliberations on whether or not to keep offering free public skating in 2025-2026.