Uplands Community Council

🏒 Falcon Rink Update – Get Your Skates On! ❄️
The Falcon Rink remains open for this evening, and we’re thrilled to see so many families still making the most of the ice!
While the rink is not officially closed, the forecast over the next week suggests that this may be the end of the season.

There’s still a lot of ice out there, and we’re always optimistic that a surprise stretch of cold weather could give us one more week — but Mother Nature may have other plans.

If you’ve been meaning to get out for one last skate, this could be your opportunity. ⛸️
We encourage everyone to keep an eye on ottawarinks.ca for the latest outdoor rink conditions.

Thank you for being such an incredible community this season. Whether it’s tonight or next week, we hope you lace up and enjoy every last glide of winter! 🌙

📢 Big News for Uplands Military Families! 🇨🇦🏡

The Government of Canada has announced a historic military housing expansion, including new homes at the Uplands site in Ottawa to better support members of the Canadian Armed Forces and their families.

Led by the Canadian Forces Housing Agency under the Department of National Defence, this investment will help deliver thousands of new housing units nationwide — including approximately 280 in Ottawa.

This is great news for our growing community!

🔗 Read the full announcement here:

Government of Canada Investing in Historic Military Housing Expansion to Support CAF Members and Families - Canada.ca Today, the Honourable David J. McGuinty, Minister of National Defence, visited the Uplands site of Canadian Forces Support Group (Ottawa-Gatineau) to announce the launch of the second phase of Canada’s national housing construction program – a major expansion of military housing that plans to de...

Worthwhile reading on the housing update.

Government of Canada Investing in Historic Military Housing Expansion to Support CAF Members and Families - Canada.ca Today, the Honourable David J. McGuinty, Minister of National Defence, visited the Uplands site of Canadian Forces Support Group (Ottawa-Gatineau) to announce the launch of the second phase of Canada’s national housing construction program – a major expansion of military housing that plans to de...

Tomorrow’s the night! Come join us for the annual pancake supper.

Open to residents of Uplands and the extended military community.

We’re still Looking for a few volunteers. If you can flip pancakes or help out in any way please let us know.

Pm us or send us an email and would love your support.

**Rink Update - we’re open!**

Ice conditions aren’t great just yet, but we’re back at it and will keep improving things as Mother Nature allows. Thanks for your patience and for skating safely while conditions continue to improve.

We finally pulled the goalie — new nets are out!
Huge thanks to PSP CFSG Ottawa-Gatineau for helping us up our game! 🙌
⏱ 0800–2200: Lots of time to deke out winter boredom
👍 Be a good sport and share the ice
💪 We could use more hands on deck (or on the ice!)

Huge thanks to Jarvis for getting the nets ready!

Slide into our DMs if you want to join the volunteer crew! 😄

** Update**
Rink is back open!
Beautiful day for a skate.

Hey folks,
We haven’t been able to do any ice maintenance the last few days due to the weather. We’ve gone ahead and flooded this morning and the surface will be closed for about 2hrs (Opening around 1:30pm)

Sorry for the inconvenience but we were hoping to inprove the surface conditions since the freezing rain.

🎉 RINK UPDATE — WE’RE OPEN! ❄️🏒
We asked Santa for a Christmas miracle…
and our amazing volunteers absolutely delivered! 🎁
The Falcon Rink is officially OPEN for the season!
⏱ Hours: 8:00 AM – 10:00 PM daily
📍 425 Beadner Blvd.
Please follow all posted signs and rink guidelines — we’re still putting things in place and the ice will continue to improve each day as we build more layers (natural ice takes teamwork and patience! ❄️).
✨ Huge thank you to the volunteers who poured their hearts (and frozen toes) into making this happen!
Grab your skates, bundle up, and let’s make some winter magic together! ⛸️

’Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the base,
The rink sat in silence, a cold, moonlit space.
The nets had been stacked by the old wooden gate,
And skates by the fireplace were waiting their fate.

The children were dreaming of ice smooth and bright,
Of hockey and gliding from morning to night.
And parents were hoping, with fingers all crossed,
That warm winter sunshine would not make it lost.

When out by the rink there arose such a sound,
Of shovels and laughter that echoed around.
I pulled on my slippers and looked through the glass,
And saw helpful neighbors all working en masse.

No sleigh full of toys, no St. Nicholas there—
But volunteers bundled in cold winter air.
With headlamps and toques and rosy red cheeks,
They’d answered the call that had waited for weeks.

They scraped and they swept every snow-covered inch,
They chipped at the bumps that refused still to flinch.
Then out came the hoses, stretched long in the snow,
And water like moonlight began its slow flow.

They flooded the surface with patience and care,
While frost stitched its lace in the midwinter air.
No magic but teamwork, no reindeer in flight—
Just neighbors on duty on Christmas Eve night.

They smoothed every circle, each corner and line,
Till the whole rink was shining, glass-perfect and fine.
Then shouldering shovels with tired delight,
They wished one another a good Christmas night.

And I heard them exclaim as they faded from sight,
“Merry Christmas to all—
and to all a good night!”

If you read this far, we’re trying our best for a Christmas miracle and our volunteers are hard at work. We’re hoping to allow some level of skating in the next few days but that will really depend on the weather. Stay tuned for more info!

PHASE 2 IS GO! 📢 We're Building the Skating Surface!

We have successfully completed the compressed base layer, and now we're moving onto the exciting part: building the actual ice!

We've started applying a ton of water to that foundation, which is the beginning of our final skating surface. We are still a long way from lacing up the skates, but once this massive layer freezes solid, we'll start layering smooth ice on top to build the ideal surface everyone loves!

Every layer counts! Huge appreciation to our volunteers who are tackling this cold, but rewarding, work.

Want to help us finish the job and get the rink open faster? We still need ice-makers for flooding and clearing!

Volunteer Sign-Up: https://forms.cloud.microsoft/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=lERbMocV1UC7MYtmC38QOATZFkm7ZK5JvCgBAGYq1X9UMjVaOE9NWjNKOFFWRTdNNVZZNFpGR1UxQy4u&origin=Invitation&channel=0

Stay tuned for the final countdown!

The Ice Build Has Begun! 🧊 (But We Still Need You!)

We've started the slow but essential task of building the base layer for the Uplands Outdoor Rink - Falcons Rink!

This critical first step involves spraying water onto the initial layer of snow and compacting it down. This forms a solid, protective underlay—the foundation on which we can build those beautiful skating layers!

❄️ What's Next? We'll repeat this process later this week as we're expecting more snow in the forecast, and then we plan to start building the thick skating ice by the weekend.

📣 P.S. We are still actively recruiting volunteers to join our ice-making crew! The more help we have, the faster we can get the rink open.

Sign up to help here:
https://forms.cloud.microsoft/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=lERbMocV1UC7MYtmC38QOATZFkm7ZK5JvCgBAGYq1X9UMjVaOE9NWjNKOFFWRTdNNVZZNFpGR1UxQy4u&origin=Invitation&channel=0

Stay tuned for more updates.

Let's Make Some Magic Happen! ✨ Volunteer for the Uplands Rink!

We know the best memories are made on the ice, but those smooth surfaces don't happen by themselves!

The Uplands Community Council is putting together our dream team of Ice Makers this winter. We're committed to making sure the workload is light and fun. When you sign up, you'll be joining a crew of neighbors who make sure our outdoor rink stays perfect all season long.

Tasks include: sweeping, shoveling/snow-blowing, and learning how to flood the ice with our gear. No experience necessary—just a willingness to help!

Ready to volunteer a little time for a lot of community fun?

Click here to join the team:
https://forms.cloud.microsoft/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=lERbMocV1UC7MYtmC38QOATZFkm7ZK5JvCgBAGYq1X9UMjVaOE9NWjNKOFFWRTdNNVZZNFpGR1UxQy4u&origin=Invitation&channel=0

Thank you for helping make Uplands great!