Legacy fund boosts Save the Oval campaign
Posted Jan 25, 2011 01:55:42 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The Save the Oval folks brought forward two petitions for their cause and some serious cash to HRM city council Tuesday.
The first petition, presented to Downtown Councillor Dawn Sloane, consists of 85 hundred signatures. The second petition has the names of 400 elementary school children.
The 400-metre speed skating oval, on the Halifax Commons, has been attracting huge crowds since opening for recreational use in December 2010.
Sloane says city staff is working on a feasibility study to determine the possibility of keeping the Oval permanently, rather than disassembling it after February’s Canada Winter Games.
Besides the signature support, the Save the Oval team was able to secure $100,000 in cash from a legacy fund that’s been growing for more than two decades. The World Figure Skating Championships were held in Halifax in 1990 and a portion of the profits from that event were put into the legacy account.
John Paul Cody-Cox, CEO of Speed Skating Canada, was on hand for today’s petition presentation. He says the oval is a “jewel” that encourages an active lifestyle for the entire community while providing a high-performance facility for athletes.
The campaign continues at savetheoval.ca
