• Outdoor Skating
  • Flags & Signs
• Volunteer Outdoor Ice Rink Program
• Parks Department Snow Clearing

The Town of Markham maintains these outdoor skating facilities (weather permitting) for you and your family to enjoy:

• Toogood Pond in Unionville located on Carlton Road, west of Main Street Unionville. Shinny hockey permitted.
  
  
• Markham Civic Centre at 101 Town Centre Boulevard, north-west corner of Highway 7 and Warden Ave. Shinny hockey not permitted.
  
  

These skating facilities are dependent on the ice and weather conditions, and are monitored daily by Parks staff. A minimum of 19mm or 7 1/2 inches of solid ice with no surface water, or melting edges is required to open the ponds for safe public skating.

Visit our Recreation Skating section for more information.

All locations use a flag/sign system to inform the public of ice conditions.

Yellow flag/sign means you can skate at your own risk.

Red flag/sign means skating is not permitted and there is no skate patrol on duty.

This winter the Town will be working with groups of volunteer residents to install and maintain ice rinks, where winter water services exist - see *proposed rink locations ( 21k/1p) - subject to all of the following criteria being satisfied as outlined in Town of Markham Volunteer Outdoor Ice Rink Policy. ( 26k/2p) These criteria are required to assist in your safe and successful volunteer program, weather permitting.

Anyone who is interested in organizing the building of a community ice rink is required to act as a co-ordinator who would then form a group and fill out an Ice Rink Application Form. ( 63k/1p) Once this form is completed, please fax it to the attention of Nory Takata at 905-940-1550 or send it to:

Town of Markham, Operations Department
101 Town Centre Blvd., Markham, ON, L3R 9W3
Attn: Nory Takata, Parks Planner, Operations

Once the location and size of the ice rink is confirmed, the co-ordinator will be notified and will need to circulate a petition confirming acceptance of the ice rink by a minimum of 70% of residents adjacent to the park or ice rink location prior to rink construction.   A draft petition is available from the Town.

If the Ice Rink Application is approved, the co-ordinator will be required to enter into an agreement with the Town by signing the Volunteer Co-ordinator Agreement ( 22k/2p) and all other volunteers will be required to sign the Volunteer Agreement. ( 22k/2p)

Volunteer Ice Rink Programs have been approved at the following locations for the 2008/2009 winter season:

1. Bayview Lane Park
2. White's Hill Park
3. Grandview Park
4. Paddock Park
5. Northvale Park 

All locations use a flag/sign system to inform the public of ice conditions. Yellow flag/sign means you can skate at your own risk. Red flag/sign means skating is not permitted. The information will be recorded by the ice rink volunteers on the Volunteer Program for Outdoor Ice Rink Maintenance Form.( 27k/1p)

*Note: The Town will consider installing new winterized services in parks on a first come first serve basis. There is limited funding available in this program and the Town may not be able to accommodate every request. The Town will begin accepting applications September 1, for the following winter season. A special application form for locations requiring the installation of new Winterized Water Services for Ice Rinks ( 18k/1p) must be filled out and faxed or emailed beginning September 1, 2008. Any new water service applications received prior to September 1 or after October 31, 2008 will not be accepted.

Pathways in parks are open for public use as conditions permit. They are not cleared of ice and snow. As an alternative to pathway access, most parks are surrounded by cleared public sidewalks

Parking lots and walkways at community centres, libraries, firehalls, Markham Civic Centre, Markham Museum and the Varley Art Gallery are cleared of ice and snow by the Parks Department.

A majority of parking lots in parks are closed for the winter and are not cleared of ice and snow.