Eagle Ice Arena undergoes renovations before just in time for 50th anniversary

The Eagles Ice Arena will have a renovated interior and exterior just in time for its 50th anniversary party in early September.

Arena general manager Jason Greenwall said the biggest goal was to give the arena a fresh feel to brighten it and make people feel more excited to be there.

The renovations include repainting the front and sides of the building, adding a mural with three ownership logos, installing LED lights inside of the building to help with the brightness, redoing benches and remodeling the snack bar, Greenwall said.

Sherwin Williams was brought in to help . The paint business got involved last year when they gave a small sponsorship and donated money to help with renovation of the coaches room, said sales representative Stephan Buck.

“There’s been a lot of other businesses that have come in and helped donate some time for landscaping,” Buck said. “Everybody’s been talking about different ideas and different things for about a year, and everything’s really come together in the past three or four months.”

Greenwall, one of the coaches for the Spokane Jr. Chiefs, has been going to the ice rink since he was 3 years old. He’s happy to see the excitement for the renovations among the younger users of the rink.

While renovations are still underway, the rink is still open to the public, Greenwall said. The ultimate goal is to have the renovations completed by Sept. 7 for the 50th anniversary.

The event will kick off with free public skating with the opportunity to try hockey for no charge and play games at the end of the night through the Spokane Youth Hockey Association, he said.

At the beginning of the day, the Lilac City Figure Skating Club will have exhibitions to showcase what they do at competitions, he said.

Buck said he does not know the exact dollar amount raised for the renovations, but he sees the time and effort between everybody involved as the biggest donation.

“It’s been more of getting everybody to come together to do this,” he said. “It’s pretty awesome to see the community come in and really do this.”

Greenwall said the companies involved have been fantastic, especially the volunteer hours people have put into the project.

“There’s no real dollar amount to say, but the biggest part has been the time and energy and just watching the whole skating and hockey community come together to try and make this place look awesome and be awesome,” he said.

Donations still are being accepted and inquiries can be sent to Greenwell at eaglesicearenagm@gmail.com.