TOGO — A “gargantuan project” at the Village of Togo to have the roofs of the community’s skating and curling rinks re-shingled, which cost a total of $200,000, was completed in September.
“Volunteers plan to operate the rinks’ kitchen this winter to finish paying for the whole project,” said Amanda Burback, chair of the Togo Centennial Committee, which began talking about the project in April 2016 and started fundraising for the project the next year.
The Togo Centennial Committee, which was established in 2005 for Togo’s 100th Birthday Bash in 2006, when Burback first became a member, has as its mission statement “to participate in and support social and recreational events in the Togo area; to initiate events; to support other local groups, and to do fundraising to help maintain facilities for a social and recreational venue for the betterment of the community.”
As an incorporated charitable organization, members could include anyone in the area who wanted to be a part of working to help make Togo a better community, she explained.
Repair of the roofs was set out as a three-part project, Burback said. “First, we raised money to replace the shingles with tin on the front section, which covers the front entrance, bathrooms, kitchen, seating area and skating and curling rink viewing areas.”
The second phase was to replace the tin on the skating rink roof with new tin, which was completed in 2023, while the third and final phase, completed last month, was to replace the shingles on the curling rink, she said.
Airriess Construction of Togo did the work, she said. Photographs taken at various stages of construction included the following workers: Jeffery Airriess, Rolly Hamell, Linda Konowalchuk, Wayne Paul, Wayne Airriess, Keith Langan and Albert Konowalchuk.
All money was raised by volunteers in the community and donations from past and present Togo residents and family members, she said. One grant was received from Richardson Pioneer for $15,000.
Much of the repair cost was raised by volunteers who operated the rinks’ kitchen during the winter seasons, she said. The committee hosted the two Togo snowmobile derbies each winter, held poker tournaments in April and Ladies’ Nights in June, and sold tickets for 50/50 draws and raffles.
One of the fundraisers which yielded $26,000 was the Raise the Roof project, in which donors were invited to “purchase” sheets of tin at $200 per sheet, Burback said. A total of 130 sheets was sold and some residents “purchased” more than one sheet.
“One resident contributed enough money to ‘buy’ five sheets of tin,” she said.
In January, a celebration was held to mark the 75th anniversary of the rinks and included in that celebration was a reprint of clippings from the Kamsack Times of 1949, when three photos of the construction work were printed.
It was expected to have both rinks in operation by winter, said the newspaper clipping. The total cost of the two rinks was estimated to be $15,000, with all labour done by volunteers.
“The community as a whole has pitched in with a will to make the project a truly community undertaking,” the newspaper article said.
In March 2021, the Kamsack Times printed a story in which the Togo Centennial Arena was referred to as “the heart of a village.”
In the article, Donna Airriess described the village as a “community that always comes together to support a good cause,” and said the rinks, which defined Togo culture for nearly 70 years, were “in need of some help.”
Residents were looking to raise funds to repair the iconic building after daylight was spotted coming through the roof, the article said.
“The original rink was built after the veterans returned from the war,” said Kathy Andrews, a Togo resident who drew on many years of fond memories that revolved around the rink. “At that time, it was called the Memorial Rink, in memory of the war dead.”
“It has always been the hub of the community,” said Andrews. “I remember the men of Togo all pitched in to build and the women cooked meals to keep the crews going.”
