Mike Schwean Arena getting upgrades for 50th anniversary
April 13, 2026, 11:46 am
The Town of Moosomin is excited for the 50th anniversary of the local skating arena, named the Mike Schwean Arena after Town recreation director Mike Schwean. For this historic occasion, the town has slated the building for some upgrades coming in 2028. Even though it is still almost three years away, planning for the renovations are already underway.
“2028 is the 50th anniversary of the arena, so that was our goal, that we would do some renovations on the facility. We have other irons in the fire as well, but we want to make sure the arena is well kept and in the shape we want it to be for the next twenty to thirty years,” said Mike Schwean.
“We have our renovation project broken into three phases. It’s dependent on fundraising and donations, but there are some things for Phase 1 that we will be doing for sure.
“We’re going to be doing some repairs to the boards, new stanchions and six-foot plexiglass, new hardware for the boards, clear mono-filament netting, which is the see-through invisible netting. We’re getting new rubber matting around the boards, new LED lighting for the entire building, showers in dressing room #5, work to the lobby bleachers and windows, some minor painting inside and outside the building, and various repairs to bleachers and seating. We’re looking to take the back row out, put a lean rail around the building, and then all plastic seating below that. We’re going to change up the penalty box so that you can do both the score clock and sound system from the penalty box, work to the lobby flooring, ticket booth upgrades, and some atrium tile repairs,” he said.
Some of the repairs and fixes in Phases 2 and 3 will be subject to change based on the availability of funds when the time comes. Schwean mentioned some of the things planned for those two phases.
“A new storage area by the Zamboni room that will get rid of the nets below the lobby, enclosing the penalty box, new dressing rooms on the east side of the arena to accommodate some younger teams, wrap-around indoor seating that would connect to the Blue Moose Lounge and then continue to wrap all the way around, as well as some more minor exterior repairs.
“Then lastly Phase 3, which also depends on funding availability, would be new Brine lines under the floor, a new cement pad, solar power, and some plumbing fixtures.”
This will be one of the largest renovations and largest projects that the Moosomin rink has ever gone through since it opened in 1978.
“It’s a big project for us to undertake. We’ve got a lot of irons in the fire. As far as funding goes, we’re very grateful to the R.M. of Moosomin who committed $25,000 a year for the next three years, that gives us $75,000. The Town of Moosomin, we’re grateful that they committed three years of funding of $50,000 to give us $150,000. Community Acres Crop Project have committed three years as well. Obviously that one is an estimate because we’re not sure what that will amount to, but I would estimate around $150,000. That will take us close to $400,000.”
“We are working with the Borderland Co-op on their Building Communities program to supply us materials at cost, which certainly helps us tremendously. We’re working with Grantmatch, which is a professional grant business that will help us with some grants over the coming three years.”
Some other organizations outside the Moosomin Parks and Rec department have also shown considerable interest in helping out with this large-scale undertaking.
“Outside of Parks and Rec, the Kinsmen club are very interested in helping with the project. They mentioned Lotto 365 again as a possibility, but certainly they’re looking at doing something. Moosomin Moose fraternity are looking at doing a Sportsman Supper, perhaps for the next three years. This year we will have TSN’s Brit Dort as MC. The Leafs hockey team are also interested in doing some fundraising for us.
“Fundraising in-house from Parks and Rec, we’ll look at Kraft Hockeyville next year, maybe doing one big push on that. We applied for the 2027 RCMP Musical Ride, so we’ll find out on that in the fall. Hopefully that’s something we can host next year, and then we’ll apply next January to be the host for the 2028 Hockey Sask Hockey Day in Saskatchewan. It moves around the province in the eight different zones. In 2028 it’s back in our zone, and I think the last community made about $175,000 at that event. So certainly that would be a big event for us.”
Hockey Canada and Hockey Sask have been looking to do some advocacy for arenas all around the country as well.
“Sask Hockey put forward our project to Hockey Canada, and we had a zoom call with their Chief Financial Officer, Stephen Brooks, to go over our project, and he’s doing some advocacy work with the federal government to hopefully secure some funding for a project as well. We did do a economic impact study, and it [the Mike Schwean Arena] showed a yearly return of $3.6 million into the community of new money, and with the economic escalator value, it’s over $25 million moved around the community. It’s a huge economic driver for the community,” said Schwean.
“The last item I will highlight is the donor wall. We did a mock up of a donor wall we would do, and it would go on the grassy area on the north west side of the arena, and would take up that whole area. We’ll have different structures for different levels of donors, and that will obviously highlight the arena’s 50th anniversary. The first arena in Saskatchewan and in Western Canada was here in Moosomin. The first game of hockey in Saskatchewan was played here in Moosomin, so that will all go around that. I think that will be a beautiful tribute in front of the arena, so we’re excited for that. We’ll come up with donor numbers for the different levels, and we’ll get that out sometime in the next six months or so.”
Tourist information centre
The Town is also looking at putting up a new attraction in town for the Communities in Bloom competition later this summer.
“As part of our Communities in Bloom plans, we’re looking at doing a tourist information center,” Schwean said. “It would be kitty-corner to the Red Barn.
Our past Mayor, Larry Tomlinson, did a great job securing some land for us there, so we have a company that’s donating a new grain bin for us. We wanted to promote our heritage. Obviously, we have a tremendous heritage here.
“We require to raise some money in order to do this project, and it’s something we want to do before our Communities in Bloom judges are in town this summer. I think it’ll be a great asset for us. Honoring the past, living for the present, embracing the future is the theme of the center, and I think we’ve got all kinds of ideas.”
