Glendon Arena project will begin this year after $1M matching CFEP grant

Image credit: MLA Scott Cyr. Left to right: Cyr, Ken Psyhk, Ag Society president, Minister Tanya Fir, ice man Scott Dalliare last August. Ahead of the Alberta Winter Games, new life is being breathed into the Glendon Arena.

Major renovations will soon be on the way for the Glendon Arena, after significant funding was confirmed from the provincial government, and local buy-in from the municipality and Ag Society.

Last week, MLA Scott Cyr announced that the Glendon Ag Society’s CFEP grant (Community Facility Enhancement Program) bid for $1 million was given the green light.

That is a matching grant, mirroring the $750,000 put forward by the Village of Glendon, and the quarter million that the Ag Society funded and borrowed.

Ag Society president Ken Pshyk said this puts the wheels in motion on much needed upgrades.

“The ice is going to be redone, and the boards are going to be redone, the players benches, boxes, that’s no question. That’s got to be done. And also our condenser. We have a condenser that’s given us a lot of grief, which is an integral part of the plant,” Pshyk told Lakeland Connect. 

There are two phases of potential renovation. What started the conversations was a brine leak. But once consultants got to take a deeper look at the building, more areas of concern, plus aged equipment and infrastructure, were noticed.

Then an overall long term plan of lobby and dressing room improvements were also calculated. Over two phases, today’s cost to do it all would be $4 million, said Pshyk.

What gets added to the mix will be finalized soon.

“Where do we spend the rest of the money? Do we look at a little bit of lobby, a little bit of dressing room, or what we do? But that’s our discussion phase,” he said. 

‘A real win for Glendon’

Minister of Arts, Culture, and Status of Women, Tanya Fir, visited the Lakeland last year and made several stops, looking at facilities in contention for the CFEP grant.

The stop in Glendon, brought along by MLA Cyr, could be seen as a catalyst toward the eventual confirmation.

Beyond the fears of having a failure mid-season and forcing cancellations, the Glendon Arena has become a de-facto third rink for Bonnyville hockey.

On top of Glendon Minor Hockey, it routinely holds practices for Bonnyville Minor Hockey, Lakeland Panthers, Lakeland Lightning, and other ice activities, because the two rinks at the C2 are so busy.

That, and the hosting of the Alberta Winter Games in 2026, was compelling for Glendon Arena’s selection.

Certainly, it’s another positive for the village, which has been able to progress in recent years, said Mayor Nicholas Werstiuk.

“Getting the CFEP was a real win for Glendon. Otherwise, we were potentially going to lose the rink,” Werstiuk told Lakeland Connect. 

Psyhk said the project is hoped to get underway mid-March and be finished by mid-September.

They could also get additional funding from the M.D. of Bonnyville, having made a delegation previously. Pshyk and Werstiuk noted how appreciative for the seed money in the past that the M.D. has put into the Ag Society and Village.

“Council was very happy to team up with the Ag Society and to be able to get the grant was obviously amazing. Our community gets a good bang for our buck, because we don’t pay for a lot of management. It’s a lot of volunteer hours, right? We have such great volunteers. 

“That’s something that I feel we should be proud about, is that not only the funds that we’re getting in, or the funds the Village gave to the Ag Society, none of it’s being wasted on management. It’s going strictly into the project, and which is something very rare.” 

The Glendon Arena was built in 1974, and after 50 years, it’s getting the facelift it needs. More signs, said Werstiuk, that Glendon is thriving.

“It’s a different energy in Glendon, in the last four or five years.”