BIDDEFORD — The cold weather is bringing people outdoors to participate in winter activities like skiing, snow shoeing and a favorite for all ages, ice skating. A popular skating spot for generations of Biddeford residents has been the Westbrook Skating Rink on Pool Street.

On Dec. 26, the public was allowed on the ice for the first time this winter. It was also the first day the outdoor rink was open since the city purchased the rink and the adjacent building from the Knights of Columbus for $150,000 last year.

When presenting the sale proposal to the city, Knights board member Edward Caron said the organization’s members are getting old and no longer wanted to be responsible for running the rink.

However, they offered the rink to the city so that it would remain a community asset, said Caron.

“It keeps the legacy alive,” said Knight David Gagnon, who has been involved in running the rink for the past decade.

Although the city agreed to purchase the property, which also includes land accessing Clifford Park, it didn’t have funds to run the rink.

Members of the Luke E. Hart Council Knights of Columbus # 260 along with the Dunlap Lodge FreeMasons # 47, agreed to run the rink for the city, free of charge.

Members of those organizations, along with many other volunteers, spent eight weekends getting the rink ready for another season, said Freemason Richard LaChance.

Work details numbered 20 to 35 people, he said.

A number of the volunteer workers were area youth who helped build a ramp to the rink, clear vegetation from property, clean the warming shed and stack sand bags to dam the brook which floods the property.

Members of Go Greene, a youth group formed after the shooting of brothers Derek and Gage Greene in Biddeford in June, and members of the Community Bicycle Coalition, a non-profit organization in Biddeford, were among the volunteers.

Youth were included in the work details, said LaChance, “so they can take ownership of the rink.”

Some of the same young people are continuing to volunteer through the winter to help clear snow off the ice after storms, and assisting in other ways. By doing this, about 20 young people earned free season passes to the rink.

In addition to the volunteers who are responsible for the work needed to keep the rink open, community members have also made donations toward its upkeep. For instance, an anonymous donor supplied all the lumber for the walkway that volunteers constructed. The person made the donation because he, his children and his grandchildren had all skated at the Westbrook Skating Rink, said LaChance.

The rink also provides an opportunity for local non-profit groups to make money. On Saturday nights, non-profit organizations are allowed to sponsor the night and all admission proceeds go to that group.

The Community Bicycle Center, which held a fundraiser at the rink last year, took in $500, said the group’s Executive Director Andy Greif. The CBC will hold another fundraiser this year, said Greif, on Feb. 6.

In addition to an open skate, CBC members will demonstrate ice bikes that they created with the help of students at the Biddeford Center of Technology.

The opportunity the rink affords to hold fundraisers for the community is very valuable, said Greif, as the money earned helps the CBC pay bills and keep the center going.

Despite the hard work to run the rink, the Freemasons and Knights are dedicated to keeping it open and making it better every year, said LaChance.

“It’s a great, great thing to have in our community,” said LaChance. “To see the kids flock on the ice makes it all worthwhile.”

Westbrook Skating Rink was originally started by the Laverriere family in 1907, said Gagnon. He said they donated it to the Knights of Columbus.

The rink was later run by Biddeford firefighters and St. Louis Alumni. The Knights took it over once more about 10 years ago, said Gagnon, and then sold it to the city last year.

The Westbrook Skating Rink, located at 234 Pool St., in Biddeford, is open 3 – 8 p.m. weekdays. On Saturdays it’s open 12 – 5 p.m. and 6 – 9 p.m., and on Sundays it’s open 12 – 8 p.m.

— Staff Writer Dina Mendros can be contacted at 282-1535, Ext. 324 or dmendros@journaltribune.com.