It isn't like going to the Arena and being one of the first to make an oval on the freshly topped ice. One of many of our precious memories is waiting for Chuck to say 'okay' and zipping on a clean, flat surface. The Arena was a gathering place for skaters on a Sunday afternoon when the Thieves weren't playing hockey. It was a place to go on Friday nights and watch the Prowlers while we banged on the boards with cow bells and cheered our team along. It was where prominent citizen's stood on the board seats next to the wall in their storm coats and beaver like hats and clapped their fur lined gloves together as a way of sponsoring the home teams. Between the twenty minute hockey periods, we would drink burnt cocoa served by Bonnie Dicken's mother made on a big stove in the corner.The Arena seems to be empty now, I wonder if the skate blade cuts in the floor of the bathrooms are still there as are the ghosts of autographs on the walls. It was been replaced by the Huck Olson Center which has been over shadowed by the Ralph Englestad Arena which seats greater than 11,000 people. Can people simply skate there or is it booked with groups during the winter season?
In the fifties, Thief River Falls had several outdoor rinks. At the site of the old Central School on North Fourth and LaBree, there was a rink and a warming house. The ice was poured in the early winter and as the season went on, it got harder to skate on. Northrop, Knox, and Old Washington had rinks. Frank went to Catholic School but played neighborhood hockey at the rink at Knox. Northrop School, now the site of an apartment building, had a rink. I remember skating on the ice at Washington. All of the outdoor rinks were subject to snowfalls. Although they were cleared, the ice was only perfect once; right after the water froze. The river, as pictured, frozen naturally with ridges. If you wished to skate, you put up with the roughness.
Yet, back in the mid teens, the idea of an outdoor skating rink was founded, it would charge for admission. The city of Thief River Falls raised its head as did the religious leaders of the day. The idea ran smack dab into the Blue Law.
Perhaps we need to look at just what a blue law is. It is a type of law designed to enforce moral standards, particularly the observance of Sunday as a day of worship or rest. Most have been repealed or are simply unenforced, although prohibitions on the sale of alcoholic beverages and occasionally almost all commerce, on Sundays are still enforced in many areas. Blue Laws often prohibit an activity only during certain hours and there are usually exceptions to the prohibition of commerce, like grocery and drug stores. In some places blue laws may be enforced due to religious principles, but others are retained as a matter of tradition or out of convenience. The paper they are written on is NOT blue; it may have been named that because of the rigid beliefs of the blue noses.
Check out the skate law in Thief River Falls in 1916.
APRIL 1916
There is a New Amusement law. Pool rooms open only five hours on Sunday. Bowling alleys and skating rinks to be closed on Sundays
Skating rink for city assured by council
Money to be raised by sale of season tickets
JANUARY 1917
Skating rink to open Sunday, January 7. The ice is located at the corner of Duluth and third and there is a warming house. A season ticket for the coming season will cost $2.50, 15 cents if bought in singles. Children under 14 are free but may not skate after 9 P. The rink will be open from 7:30 to 10 PM.
No hockey playing will be permitted on the rink at any time that the public is using the ice.
Side by side article read:
Rink cannot open and charge a fee on Sunday. City ordinance #150 prohibits skating on Sunday. License also needed to run rink. Penalty for violation is $10-$100 plus or fine of 90 days in jail.
1 11 1917 City passes ordinance to allow skating on Sunday
I know someone is going to raise a fit about movies anytime when they read this. It is dark in the theater, something can happen!!! OH MY!!! No dancing either, people stand too close and it may suggest something else. OH DEAR!!! I know someone who got dressed for church and went out and shot crows until it was time to leave for church, although some states had blue laws against hunting until recently. But ice skating? How can that be morally wrong?
Tie those ice or hockey skates together, put them around your neck and at least in memory, skate as fast and far as you can without Chuck blowing the whistle at you for speeding.
e
