Rainbow Road Recreation Area · The rink is bought on September 30, 2026
The rink is coming — an 83′ × 46′ surface and professional board system, bought and crated, and the purchase closes on September 30. What we owe after that, we owe to people who trusted this island to be good for it.
Let's bring it home.
Salt Spring has about 11,000 residents and no public skating surface. The nearest rink is a ferry ride away. This is the first one the island has ever had within reach.
Every dollar raised pays this balance down. The meter counts community donations only.
Need a tax receipt? Charitable receipting is being finalised right now. Email us and we'll hold your pledge — you'll be receipted the moment it's live, and nothing is lost by telling us today rather than waiting.
The simplest way to give is an Interac e-Transfer to hello@skatesaltspring.ca — it costs the campaign nothing, so the entire amount goes to the rink. If a card is easier, the button above goes straight to our Stripe checkout — the processing fee comes off the top, which is the only reason we mention the e-transfer first. Everything else is arranged personally by email; Jesse Giddings, our founder and chair, answers these himself, usually the same day. Charitable receipting is being finalised right now — if that matters to you, say so and we'll hold your pledge until it's live.
Where the project actually stands
The equipment exists and is paid for in part. The CRD has selected the site and accepted staff's recommendation that it operate the arena, with the installation and operating budget going to the 2027 provisional budget process. What's missing is the balance of the purchase price.
A Can-Ice synthetic ice surface with an Athletica professional dasher board and netting system — arena-grade, and it needs no refrigeration, so it runs year-round.
Purchased from the Victoria Hockey Legacy Society, which installed the surface for the 2024 Scotiabank Hockey Day in Canada at Ship Point and for the Victoria Cougars' Stanley Cup centennial.
In June 2026 the CRD's Local Community Commission selected Rainbow Road Recreation Area, behind the community pool, as the location, and accepted staff's recommendation that the CRD operate the arena. CRD staff are now preparing an installation and operating budget for the 2027 provisional budget process, with approval expected in March 2027.
The purchase of the rink itself is entirely privately funded. That's the $85,000 this page is about.
The total purchase is $100,000. We paid a $15,000 deposit in May 2026, and the Society has secured a bridge for the balance, on the understanding that the community raises the money and pays it back. The purchase will close on time. Every dollar donated before September 30 reduces what has to be advanced at all. Every dollar after that pays it back. An early commitment to fund the purchase privately didn't come through. We told CRD staff as soon as we knew, and it was reported on the Driftwood's front page.
Our charitable receipting partnership is being finalised right now, and we'll let you know the moment it's live. Until then we can't issue receipts and we won't imply otherwise. If a receipt matters to you, email us now and we'll hold your pledge and come straight back to you. Nothing is lost by starting today, and it helps enormously to know what's coming.
Three ways in
All three start with an email. We'll take it from there.
Interac e-Transfer to hello@skatesaltspring.ca is the best way — it's free, so the full amount reaches the rink. Prefer a card? Give any amount here. Cheque, or a conversation about something larger, by email. There's no minimum that doesn't matter — this gets repaid in whatever amounts the island can manage. Want the tax receipt? Pledge now and we'll come back to you the moment receipting is confirmed.
Email to contribute →Your name on a dasher panel, in front of every skater on this island for years. For a business this is an advertising cost rather than a donation, which is a cleaner line for your books. Ask us for the rate sheet.
Ask for rates →We need the container emptied and the rink hauled from Victoria, plus skates and a sharpener. A flat deck, an excavator, a warehouse, a trade, or a weekend of labour all move the number as surely as cash does.
Tell us what you have →Who we are
If you're being asked for money by an organisation you've never heard of, you're entitled to check it. Here is everything you need to.
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Fair questions
Not yet. Our charitable receipting partnership is being finalised right now, and until it is live we cannot issue receipts and won't imply otherwise.
If a receipt matters to you, email us and we'll hold your pledge — you'll be receipted the moment it's live, and nothing is lost by telling us today rather than waiting. If a receipt doesn't matter to you, we can put your contribution to work immediately.
Victoria used it for events — Hockey Day in Canada, the Cougars centennial — which meant setting it up and tearing it down each time, with crane trucks and crews. That's what made it uneconomic there. Salt Spring is installing it once, permanently, at Rainbow Road, with the CRD operating it. Same asset, a different model.
The purchase of the rink itself is entirely privately funded — that's the $85,000 this page is about. Separately, the CRD's Local Community Commission selected Rainbow Road Recreation Area in June 2026 and accepted staff's recommendation that the CRD operate the arena. CRD staff are preparing an installation and operating budget for the 2027 provisional budget process, with approval expected in March 2027. No public funding has been approved, and none of it buys the rink.
Yes, on steel blades, with real hockey stops. There's modestly more friction than refrigerated ice. For learn-to-skate, public skate, and shinny it isn't what anyone remembers about the experience — and it needs no ice plant, no compressors, and no seasonal shutdown, which is the only reason a community our size can realistically sustain a rink at all.
The panels are ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene, which contains no fluorine and therefore cannot contain PFAS. The surface slip agents are fatty acid amides approved for food contact by the FDA and the EU. We'll send the manufacturer's safety data sheets to anyone who asks.
The CRD will operate it, funded through user fees and sponsorships rather than ongoing public subsidy. Operating costs are low because there's no refrigeration — cleaning, periodic panel maintenance and lighting. CRD staff are preparing the detailed annual figure as part of the 2027 provisional budget.
The rink gets bought. The Society has secured a bridge for the balance, so the purchase closes on time whatever the campaign has raised by then. What we owe doesn't change — there is now a date on which this project starts, not one on which it fails — and we intend to be square by the end of October.
Because the money is still owed. The balance was bridged so the rink wouldn't be lost on a deadline — nobody bought it for us. Every dollar raised before September 30 reduces what has to be advanced at all, and every dollar after that pays it back. Getting the rink from Victoria to Salt Spring is also still unfunded and isn't part of the $100,000.
A private commitment to fund the purchase was in place and didn't come through before the money moved. Circumstances change, and we hold nothing against anyone over it — it is simply why we're asking the island instead.
The equipment, the deposit and the site selection are all unaffected. The only thing that changed is who is paying for it.
The Salt Spring Island Healthy Living Society, a registered BC non-profit (S0083594), chaired by founder Jesse Giddings. The rink will sit on CRD land at Rainbow Road and be operated by the CRD. Donations are handled through our charitable receipting partner, so the money doesn't sit with us.
Luc Robitaille, President of the Los Angeles Kings, serves as honorary co-chair — an unpaid role. He's opening doors to corporate sponsors; the community campaign is what gets the rink onto the island.
Talk to a person
Jesse Giddings, Founder & Chair, reads and answers these himself. If you'd rather talk than type, say so and leave a number.
hello@skatesaltspring.ca