A major capital campaign to overhaul the Martha’s Vineyard Arena is off and running, leaders at the Vineyard’s only ice arena have announced.
The public phase of the ambitious $3.4 million campaign was announced this week, with a goal of raising $1 million from Island residents.
The arena has quietly been raising funds since mid-summer and has in hand $1.5 million in gifts and pledges, a press release said. The goal now is to raise another $1 million before spring. An anonymous supporter has offered to match dollar for dollar, the first $500,000 in contributions from Island residents, businesses, groups and foundations. The project has received the support and endorsement of the Boston Bruins Foundation, among others.
Begun as an open-air skating rink in the 1970s and built by hand by a group of dedicated hockey enthusiasts, the ice arena was enclosed in the 1980s. It serves hundreds of Islanders through ice hockey, figure skating and other programs. The physical facility is badly ailing and needs significant repairs.
Plans are now in place to completely renovate the 40-year-old rink to make it an energy-efficient community skating facility. The project is expected to run from March to October 2017.
Changes began at the arena early last summer when it formed an alliance and management partnership with the YMCA of Martha’s Vineyard. The Y is located next door to the ice rink. The partnership allows the two organizations to share administrative staff and services such as bookeeping.
Peter Lambos, the former executive director of the Martha’s Vineyard Boys & Girls Club, was hired to be general manager of the arena.
He will now lead the renovation project.
“The renovation is essentially a gut job that will completely replace the arena’s aging ice-making system and upgrade our facility to create a greater overall experience for generations of arena users and guests to come,” Mr. Lambos said in the press release.
Gifts to the Martha’s Vineyard Arena Renovation Project Community Contribution Campaign are tax-deductible and can be sent to: Martha’s Vineyard Arena, P.O. Box 2062, Vineyard Haven, MA 02568. Contributions can also be made at the arena, at 91 Edgartown Road in Oak Bluffs, or online at www.mvarena.com.
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