Daniel MacIsaac
Northern News Services

INUVIK (Nov 05/99) - Thea Salkeld says it's not too early to get a start on making Inuvik's parks more child-friendly.

That point was made crystal clear on a recent Sunday when Salkeld and her partner, Chuck Gordon, staged a grand-opening party for the new outdoor skating rink in the park alongside Ingamo Hall.

"It was just something we wanted to do," said Salkeld. "I have three kids of my own, and they were out there, but it was a great success with about 70 kids skating and then rushing the picnic table for hotdogs, and local parents helping out."

Even before Sunday's grand-opening, the neighbourhood kids showed there was a need for some good clean fun. They hung around the site earlier in the week and watched as volunteer firefighters flooded the rink, a task eventually taken over by Gordon with the aid of a lone garden hose. The kids, the barbecue, hot chocolate and a bonfire then contributed to the carnival atmosphere found on opening day.

Salkeld said the couple's project doesn't begin and end with Ingamo, however. She said she hopes local businesses will continue to rally to the cause, adding that she already secured a promise from Town Hall to assess other locations where more rinks might be made.

"The whole community knows there's not much for kids to do in Inuvik, and it's just time we started to do something about it," she said. "Close to 10 years ago there were a few rinks around town but then they just got dropped. We live on Spruce Hill and it's a bit far for the kids to get to Ingamo, and there's nothing else in the west end."

Salkeld said community support has already come from Chi Construction, Butcher Enterprises, Northern and Stanton's, Norcan, Kamotik Services and the hardware stores, as well as from Ingamo, which provided the land. She said the couple's own enterprise, Arctic Extreme T-Shirts, will serve as another tool to fund projects like park improvements.

"The whole purpose of coming up here to do Arctic Extreme was to have a business to make enough money and do things for the kids," said Salkeld, who returned from Alberta to Inuvik with Gordon last year.

Salkeld said the success of the rink party and the efforts made by volunteers was encouraging and after taking a well-deserved rest, she and Gordon may organize another skating party around Christmas.

"We're hoping to start with the skating rinks and then by spring be in a position to get the town started on these parks," she said. "There's not much equipment left in the parks and what's there is dangerous. One reason kids get into trouble is because they're bored and because there are no proper parks here."