It was around six years ago the LeRoy Community Rink went up in flames.

Now it was the mortgage of the current LeRoy Community Centre that was burnt to a crisp on Saturday night before the LeRoy Braves game. The celebration was to honour the volunteers, organizations, and residents for their support over the years to help pay off the $5.9 Million facility.

"This community is crazy, they had so many different fundraising initiatives it's almost mind-boggling," said Kirt Holowachuk, operations manager for the community centre and town foreman.

The building was built in 2016 with residents, organizations, and businesses pitching in donations of their own. Also, the community came together with multiple fundraisers including wing nights, lemonade stands, community auctions, outdoor hockey tournaments, baseball tournaments, and dances right up to the last few dollars. The most recent fundraiser was run by Farming with Friends which helped the community in the final stretch of paying off the facility.

LeRoy's current facility is used all year round with full-sized ice, heated stands, and ground-level change rooms. On top of the rink, there are features that can be used all year round such as the multi-use facility.

"This is community pride and we still have people come from out of town for events and they walk in and are just blown away by the quality of the facility," stated Holowachuk.

The previous facility was unfortunately burned down in May of 2013. LeRoy was left distraught and managed to come together to bring in the current facility so the community could continue to gather for events without having to travel out of town. 

Also to celebrate the occasion, a public skate took place along with the Pee Wee Fillies, IP Braves, Midget Fillies, and LeRoy Braves each playing a game of their own on Saturday afternoon. BHP also cooked a steak supper supplied by Midway Co-op for the community to celebrate together as a whole.

The LeRoy Community Centre came full circle this weekend by rising above the ashes and lighting a flame in the hearts of the entire local hockey community.