After a devastating fire destroyed the local arena in Perdue three years ago, a newly rebuilt arena opened on Saturday afternoon.
The community came together after the fire, and a group of volunteers began rebuilding the arena in the summer of 2016. Ron Clark is among the 50 volunteers that helped put together the new steel frame structure that cost around 1.8 million dollars.
“Just about every screw, every board hung, everything done was all done by volunteers of this community,” said Clark.
The town was able to fundraise money for the rebuild through bingo nights, dances and shirt sales. It was a long process, but Clark says the arena is the heart of the community for the town of around 300 people.
“It’s a great community gathering point. Get everybody here. Get everybody back together. Get all the kids back playing hockey in a local town, it’s incredible,” said Clark.
The community celebrated the grand opening of the arena on Saturday with Perdue Hockey day, as a thank you to all of the volunteers who helped make the new arena possible.
“A lot of people sacrificed a lot of hours and family time to get what we got, and we can’t say thank you enough,” said Clark.
