Take to the ice to help distract from the fires - that's the idea being put forward by the Northern B.C. Centre for Skating.
The locally-based organization is inviting fire evacuees and members of the general public to a skating session today from 6 to 7 p.m. at Rolling Mix Concrete Arena. Evacuees can skate for free and, for everyone else, admission is by donation.
For those who don't have the necessary equipment, skates and helmets will be available on site, free of charge.
"It will be a public skating fun hour," said Andrea Ludditt, a nationally-certified instructor at the NBCCS. "Coaches are going to set up some circuits on the ice for the kids to go through so there will be a little bit of instruction but there will be what we call a fast track close to the boards so people can just skate if they want to do that. We're trying to entertain children and adults so it can be open to everybody."
Prince George is currently hosting about 8,100 evacuees from the Cariboo region, which has been an epicentre of wildfire activity the past couple weeks. Ludditt said fellow figure skating coach Joann McNair, along with her husband, are among those who have been forced out of their homes in Williams Lake.
"I think it's terrible," Ludditt said of the fires and all the people who have been displaced by them. "My heart breaks for those people, for sure. I think our city's done a remarkable job of doing what we can. It's not enough in terms of what these people are going through but I hope that it provides them with some sort of safety and a little bit of peace."
The NBCCS didn't already have the arena booked for the skate. Instead, a special request was made for usage of the space.
The idea for the event came from NBCCS president Renee Hampole.
"I'm hoping lots of people are going to come, being that you don't even have to have any equipment," Ludditt said. "It would be awesome to see 60 to 70 people on the ice."
Ludditt herself will be lending a hand during the skate. For those folks who haven't been on blades in decades, she said there's no reason to worry.
"Lots of our senior skaters are going to be there to help as program assistants," she said. "There will be lots of people to help encourage and give some instruction to kind of bang the rust off the skates."
People who need extra time to arrange for skates and helmets are invited to come to the arena a bit early.
Rolling Mix Concrete Arena is located downtown at 888 Dominion St.
