Festive music, coloured lights and pine trees welcome us to the Cloverdale Arena Dec. 14. My son Carson (Hoy) and I are attending the holiday skate, hosted by the Devlin Group, at the Winter Ice Palace.

We lace up our skates while my son, now 28, points to a balloon with a silver number 25 floating above.

鈥淭hey鈥檙e celebrating 25 years of the Winter Ice Palace,鈥� he says.

His words jar me, send me hurtling into the past on a toboggan over the hills and dales of twenty five years, my eyes melting into tears.

When my three sons attended their first Ice Palace in 1999, Carson was 3, Connor 5, and Cody 6, and it was a big deal. There weren鈥檛 many things to do back then, other than feeding carrots to the horses in three yards surrounding our house.

I remember on bended knee, tugging their skate laces tight with my frozen hands, then with a cup of sweet hot cocoa, basking in the joy of them taking their first strides in skates on the ice.  A magical experience for them. They spent many hours attending the Ice Palace over the years, playing hockey with plastic sticks with their friends on a mini-rink at the end of the ice. Carson played music on the ice for the Ice Palaces too.

My memory returns to the time when all three of my boys played for the Cloverdale Colts in the Cloverdale Minor Hockey Association (CMHA). This was our home ice. With my youngest on defence, my middle son in net, and my eldest son playing forward. My eldest son Cody went on to play two seasons in Junior A.

Skating around the rink with us are little kids skating for their first time. They transport me back to the present moment, feeling grateful this quarter-century tradition continues and happy about the construction of two new NHL-sized rinks nearby.

A 50/50 draw is being held in the lobby, which also reminded me of the many 50/50s we held over the years as part of CMHA. The proceeds of the draw are a donation to the Cloverdale Community Kitchen to combat poverty, reflecting the true spirit of the Cloverdale community.

The Winter Ice Palace offers everyone an opportunity to have fun鈥攁ll while rekindling old memories, making joyous new memories, and supporting those in need at the same time.

The 2024 ice palace will be the 25th incarnation of the 鈥渁nnual鈥� event, which started 27 years ago in 1997. The event was cancelled in 2020 because of COVID and in 2021 because the city was short-staffed. The Cloverdale Arena is located at 6090 176th Street on the Cloverdale Fairgrounds. For more info, and a full list of skating times, visit surrey.ca and search 鈥淚ce Palace.鈥�

Ann Beaudet is a Cloverdale resident.