SOUTH PORTLAND – One of the largest-ever private donations to the city of South Portland means the return of Winterfest after a one-year absence and the creation of an outdoor skating rink to last the entire season.

At its Oct. 7 meeting, the South Portland City Council accepted a $15,000 donation from the Soucy Family, owners of Port Harbor Marine, given in collaboration with the South Portland/Cape Elizabeth Rotary. The money will be used to buy and install a 100-by-200-foot pond hockey arena manufactured by Nice Rink of Genoa City, Wisc., at Wainwright Field.

“This is a gift that will add to the community’s recreational assets during the winter,” said City Manager Jim Gailey. “The city is exploring many winter amenities for the Wainwright Farms Complex, including groomed cross-country ski trails. However, the new ice rink will be the cornerstone for recreation during the winter at the facility.

“The city thanks the Soucy family and the Rotary for their generosity and forward-thinking,” said Gailey.

“They got us a weak moment,” joked Port Harbor President Rob Soucy, on Monday. “None of us are members of the rotary, interestingly enough, and believe it or not, none of us are big ice skaters either.

“But our family and our business has been a part of the South Portland community for a long time,” said Soucy. “When we were approached about this, we thought it was something that we could do that would be substantial. I mean, you can do a lot of $50 and $100 donations to a lot of causes, but we thought his was something that could have a big impact for a lot of people.”

The five Soucy siblings grew up in and around South Portland, as have their children. In addition, most of their 40-plus employees live within a few miles of Spring Point Marina, which at 250 slips is the largest ocean marina in Maine and flagship of the company’s five locations.

“The city has always been very good to us,” said Soucy. “We felt this was a way of giving back to it and to the families who live and work here in a way that will provide some family fun, and that’s what our business is all about.”

The donation will also go a long way toward ending a dearth of suitable ice in South Portland.

“Finally, there’s something on this side of the [Casco Bay] bridge,” said Tony Wagner, a member of the Rotary Club’s Winterfest Committee. “There’s been a lot of chatter for a long time about the shortage of ice in the Greater Portland area. Once we got this check in hand, there have been just so many people talking about this. Really, I think it’s one of the most exciting things we’ve ever stumbled onto with the Rotary Club.”

The drive to the net on the new rink started two years ago, when the Rotary Club began planning the inaugural Winter Festival. Held in celebration of the club’s 50th anniversary, the February 2012 event raised $15,000, money used by Rotarians to build and donate to the city a new warming hut for the skating pond in Mill Creek Park. The festival was, however, a bit of a beast to stage, given unseasonably warm winter temperatures that year. Festivities had to be put off two weeks when the pond failed to freeze over and, even with Rotarians furiously manning a snow-making machine, Mill Creek Park still looked a little green around the edges – OK for July’s Art in the Park, but a sickly sight for making snowmen and staging “human-sled dog” races.

The Rotary decided not to make a second attempt at hosting a Winter Festival, but did follow though on its commitment for the warming hut. Begun with student workers at Southern Maine Community College, the project was about one-third complete when campus administrators decided they needed their space back, said Wagner.

Finding itself suddenly in need of construction space, the Rotary was guided to Port Harbor Marine by then-Transportation Director Tom Meyers. According to Wagner, the club spent the better part of six months at the marina complex, the company even allowing the use of its tools as it finished the project.

Then, this past February, Wagner was presenting a thank-you plaque to Mike Soucy at about the same time South Portland Recreation Director Rick Towle was laying the groundwork to bring back Winterfest in 2014. Towle asked the Rotary to help with fundraising for the event, while Soucy, Wagner says, opened the door by inviting the Rotary to call again if it ever needed help with its community activism.

Wagner had that offer in mind when sending out the initial funding requests three weeks ago, he says, but never expected such generosity.

“The ice rink was what we call a ‘stretch goal,’” said Wagner. “We hoped if we could get two or three businesses on board, we might get a part of the $15,000 needed, but the Soucys never even flinched. I sent the request on Wednesday, they called us in to meet on Thursday, and by Monday we had a check.”

For Towle, Winterfest is part of his vision of partnering with area civic groups and businesses to provide more and better services than the city can offer on its own, while relieving some of the burden on taxpayers. Much like movie nights staged with the chamber of commerce at Bug Light Park this past summer, the idea, says Towle, is for the city to take care of programming and logistics and for private groups to aid with fundraising and volunteer labor.

“It’s a true partnership,” said Wagner, “and I think it’s really cool that the city is thinking this way, to reach out to civic and service organizations, to say, we’re both good at what we do but together we can be even better and do something that will be truly memorable. We’re just happy to be involved.”

South Portland Winterfest 2014 is scheduled for Friday, Jan. 30, and Saturday, Feb. 1, with events at Wainwright Field and Mill Creek Park.

A CLOSER LOOK

To volunteer for or donate to South Portland’s Winterfest 2014, or to help procure lighting needed for the city’s new pond hockey arena, call Recreation Department Program Coordinator Jill Thompson at 767-7650, or see the website for the Rotary Club of South Portland-Cape Elizabeth, at www.sp-ce-rotary.org.