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8.31.04
SPECIAL REPORT: A Look at the Fiesta Ice Rink!
Fiesta Rancho Ice Arena
North Rancho Road - Las Vegas
IT'S BRIGHT, GLITTERY AND ALMOST READY -
HERE'S A LOOK AT THE NEW FIESTA ICE ARENA!!!
By Lee Samuels
Las Vegas - Head for the parking garage, put the car on level two, walk towards the casino elevator, bear right, take 49 steps, go through the rink doors and.....there it is - the newest rink in town, officially called
the Fiesta Rancho Ice Arena.
The first thing that hits you is the brilliance of it all: there are 35 bright lights strung above the sheet of ice and the arena is completely lit - all 45,000 square feet of it.
On Saturday, just after noontime, there were more than 20 workers scattered in all four corners of the arena. On the ice there was a four-tire lime-green SkyJack with two crew workers up high fiddling with a
pair of giant JBL loudspeakers.
"Set the loudspeakers, add one more light and guess what - we're done with the ceiling," said a floor boss.
He held some rolled-up blueprints. "Looks good,
doesn't it?" he asked.
It's a spectacular arena, painted in a pale gold which one workman looked at and said "for sure, that's called marigold."
The ice glistens, white rink boards and glass are up, the bleacher area is completed. The Pepsi Scoreboard, which for years hung at the Santa Fe Stations Ice Arena, is above center ice.
"There was some sort of netting underneath that scoreboard," said one crew worker, standing near a yellow
bucket of QuickKrete 'The Quick Setting Cement.' "We removed the netting, painted the interior black, raised all 1,200 pounds of it and there it is."
There's more good news: the rink passed a fire inspection earlier in the day which lifted the spirits of all the workers. The goal is get the arena in perfect shape for the upcoming eight-team U.S. Hockey News 'Western
Shootout' which gets underway next Friday afternoon.
Some of the workers walked gingerly onto the ice.
"Don't smudge any dirt on the ice," said one worker to another. "We don't want Buddy to get ticked off."
They were talking about Buddy Caron, an expert at setting up the rink surface.
Rob Pallin, the rink manager, calls Caron "the best there is throughout the West."
Other workers told a story about Caron and his new Zamboni, which just arrived.
"It was shipped in sort of a
cardboard cargo container," he said. "We had to get a crane, hoist it up and Buddy had to drive it to the garage area.
"We have two Zambonis, the new one and the one from the Santa Fe. We're
not sure which will hit this ice first, but the betting among the workers is that Buddy will bring the new one out."
With fresh paint down, including a royal-blue in both of the crease areas, Caron will soon lay down the final layer of ice.
Then, the final tinkering will complete it all: All four water fountains were turned on Saturday to test water flow; rugs were were measured, cut and laid with care into the locker rooms; the Refrigeration Room on the
North side was on high hum and we discovered a room with what looked like it contained a hundred grey wires and cords.
"Phone, data, communications lines," someone said.
"We also have a wireless mike," a crew boss added. "If Rob wants to wire up the referee, everything the referee says will go straight to those speakers."
He pointed to the ceiling, where a crew was putting on an eye-hook for the last JBL.
RINKBOARD NOTEBOOK - For the dozens of locals who go straight to the rinkboards, there's plenty of space
to drink hot coffee and talk hockey...
We took a walk around the casino, noting there are two McDonald's, a Subway and the Baja Cafe which has a $3.95 breakfast special.....
There are plenty of festive lights strung throughout the casino...and if you like to play, there's the Carnival of Slots which had most of the seats filled on Saturday
CLICK HERE FOR MORE PHOTOS OF THE NEW FIESTA RANCHO ICE ARENA!
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