Local resident encourages community to maintain skating trail
Reeti Meenakshi Rohilla - Staff Writer
Drayton Cash N Carry owner Dorothy Broderick offered hot chocolate from her store to anyone who would help shovel the Sioux Lookout Skating Trail on Family Day, Feb. 15.
“For the past two Family Days, we have closed for the morning and gone down to the town beach to share a fire, hotdogs, soup, hot chocolate, and marshmallows with anyone who came by,” Broderick posted on her store’s Facebook page. “We did this because we love our community and the people who live here, work here, and visit here. We did it with the help of others who offered firewood, made food/shared the food and propane costs, and helped clear the skating trail/groomed a ski trail for us. We chose that location because we were inspired by the awesomeness of the skating trail created along the shoreline. This year everything is different and we are very sad that we are not allowed to share a fire and food. We will save it for another time when we can gather freely again.”
Due to the extremely cold temperature on Feb. 15, she invited people to help clear the skating trail again this past Sunday.
Broderick said, “It’s been a lot of work to plow and to snow blow, and even with a plow and a snow blow, you can’t get right down to the ice. You need those shovelers to come out and really help clean it off.”
Drayton Cash N Carry further shared, “To claim, you must show myself or the staff member working, a photo or video of yourself clearing the ice. Even if it has been plowed, the packed snow left behind could use scraping away. No snow left to clear or scrape? Make us a small snow sculpture beside the trail and show us a photo of it once done!”
Broderick, who was born and raised in Sioux Lookout, has been voluntarily contributing to the community through various events and initiatives, often driven by the interests of her kids. She said about the beach community event, “I started it two years ago because when Ruben Hummelen had created that trail, I thought, Oh that’s such a cool idea. So, I decided that I wanted to promote it and encourage use of it in some way, so I thought let’s try getting people out on it…let’s have a bonfire at the beach, anyone can attend that.” She added, “That kind of inspired it and I thought let’s try to encourage people to get outside and do something fun.”