Winter in Temagami can be both beautiful and challenging. As the days grow shorter and temperatures drop, finding ways to stay connected, active, and engaged becomes especially important. For many in our community, the local arena is more than a building — it’s a shared space where people come together, relationships are strengthened, and winter feels a little less long.

During the Fall 2025 grant period, the Temagami Community Foundation was grateful to support two initiatives that made meaningful use of this space. Grants to Temagami Parks and Recreation helped provide free public skating nights, while support for Temagami Curls assisted with much-needed curling equipment upgrades. In different ways, both initiatives helped keep the arena accessible, welcoming, and full of life throughout the winter months.

These grants were rooted in simple but important goals: removing barriers to participation, encouraging movement and well-being, and creating opportunities for people of all ages to gather during a season that can sometimes feel isolating. From families stepping onto the ice for a free skate, to league members sharing laughter and camaraderie on curling nights, these programs reflect the quiet but powerful role recreation plays in community life.

“Temagami Curls began with a meeting with the Municipality and Arena Manager to explore the interest of our community in bringing back curling in December 2023 with just a handful of community members in attendance,” shares Debbie Morrow of Temagami Curls.

That handful quickly grew. “January 2024 first practice game had 18 people show up to curl — majority with little to no experience.” Fast forward to November 2025, and “we have 32 community members show up to curl weekly.”

As the league expanded, so did the need for proper equipment. Debbie recalls, “We started out with 3 scoreboards but no numbers to keep score,” adding with gratitude, “thanks to Temagami Community Foundation we now have 4 scoreboards and the numbers to keep score.”

Some of the earliest solutions were creative but far from ideal. “Couple members of the league met with the Arena Manager and brought our own bath towels to wrap 8 pieces of 2 x 4 cut to curling hack width with replacement towels so they can be frozen into the ice on curling night,” Debbie explains. “The old towels were so rotten they shredded when removed.” Thanks to the Foundation’s support, those makeshift materials have now been replaced. “We now have 8 aluminum freeze-in hacks. They look so professional!”

An upgraded gravity-fed pebble canister and adapters also arrived just in time, as “the old one just broke.” These improvements, Debbie notes, “help the curling ice preparation go quicker and smoother and this enhances curlers’ experience throwing their rocks.” Replacement and additional curling brooms and sticks have also given participants the proper tools to get out on the ice with confidence.

What truly defines Temagami Curls, however, is not the equipment — it’s the spirit of the players.

“We have curlers aged 15 to over 70, some with very little knowledge of the game of curling,” Debbie shares. “Experienced curlers take the time to explain the game and the rules.” On any given night, “we see an experienced skip giving advice to an inexperienced skip and we see one team’s sweeper helping the opposing team sweep when they are short a player.”

And the atmosphere? “You hear lots of laughter on the ice on curling night and lots of chatter before and after curling while having a hot chocolate or a soft drink from the canteen.”

The league recently attended its second National Curling Day in Haileybury with four teams — an experience Debbie describes as “the greatest experience for all of us, especially our youngest member, to see their team end up in a tie and have to complete 2 rounds of a shootout.”

“Our curling community just keeps on growing,” she says. And the most common feedback? “The comments we hear is how much fun they have.”

Alongside curling nights, a series of sponsored public skating evenings brought families and neighbours together on the ice. With support from the Temagami Community Foundation, these skates were offered free of charge — helping remove financial barriers and ensuring that everyone, regardless of age or ability, could participate.

As Omar de la Serna, Recreation Coordinator for the Municipality of Temagami, shared, the sponsorship created “a wonderful opportunity for the community to come together and celebrate winter, socialize and be physically active.”

On skate nights, the arena was filled with energy — little ones taking their first wobbly strides, parents steadying small hands along the boards, and confident skaters gliding lap after lap. Laughter and encouragement echoed across the rink, a reminder that sometimes the simplest activities create the strongest sense of belonging.

“These evenings were more than just public skates,” Omar reflected. They demonstrated how meaningful shared spaces can be in bringing people together. The strong turnout and enthusiasm throughout the series were heartening to see — proof that when barriers are lowered and doors are open, the community shows up.

Together, these initiatives demonstrate how investments in recreation are truly investments in community well-being. The Temagami Arena continues to serve as a place where generations mix, new skills are learned, friendships are formed, and winter becomes something to embrace rather than endure.

The Temagami Community Foundation is grateful to play a small role in supporting programs like these — programs that strengthen connection, foster inclusion, and remind us that sometimes the most meaningful impact happens in shared spaces, one skate, one game, and one winter evening at a time.