Red Deerians had the opporuntity to purchase remnants of Kinex Arena, ahead of its demolition this summer.
The City of Red Deer hosted a garage sale on Saturday at the facility, which gave residents a chance to say goodbye and potentially take home a piece of its history.
"A lot of people made memories here, so it'll be bittersweet to see it go," said Curtis Martinek, the city's facilities and asset management superintendent.
The Kinex Arena was built in 1967 and remained a staple in the community for recreation and sporting events for more than five decades. In 2018, an assessment was conducted to determine the future viability of the building. Based on the cost estimates, the Kinex was maintained as needed until the completion of the G.H. Dawe Community Centre project. The Kinex Arena was decommissioned in 2023.
All funds generated through the garage sale will go back into general revenue account for the city's recreation department.
"We have some puck boards, hockey nets, a lot of chairs and tables, an old score clock," Martinek said when asked what people could find at the garage sale.
"Some people were lined up here this morning. A couple people were able to grab some old signage from the building – they were pretty excited to take that home and put it in their basement."
Some of the larger items from the arena, such as rink glass, boards and dehumidifiers, had already been sold to other communities throughout Alberta to be repurposed.
Within an hour and a half of the garage sale, as many as 100 people had already come through the Kinex Arena's doors. The sale ran from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The land the facility currently sits on will become additional green space in Barret Park. The parking lot will remain for users of this park, as well as overflow for large events at Servus Arena and the Pidherney’s Centre.
Demolition will occur this summer and is expected to be completed by the end of August 2024. The cost of the demolition is approximately $300,000.