Rinks are ready to go in cloquet

Youth hockey players choose teams for an afternoon shinny game on the new and improved outdoor rink behind the Pine Valley Ice Arena Dec. 16. Members of the Cloquet Area Hockey Association and even some high school students tore down the old boards and dug up the ground below the rink this summer to create a bigger and better rink. Although the rink was the first to be frozen and ready for skaters, city parks staff have flooded the rinks at Pinehurst Park, Athletic Park and Sunnyside. Parks supervisor Karin Stedman said Pinehurst is good to go. Sunnyside and Athletic have ice, but some rough spots, and the skating ribbon at Dunlap Island is not ready yet. Lights were set to go on at Sunnyside and Pinehurst this week. Warming houses will remain closed because of the pandemic. The city will place benches and portable toilets at each ice rink. The Scanlon rinks at Sather Park on Washington Avenue are also ready. Carlton has a rink outside the Four Seasons and Cromwell has a rink as well.