The St. Malo arena will soon see some much-needed upgrades.

The Arena Board applied and were approved for the $27,000 Co-Op Community Spaces Grant.

“It means a lot,” comments Director Gaby Terrault. “Our arena has been a staple in our community since 1974 and this funding means we will be able to proceed with a number of projects over the coming year.”

Those projects include adding water bottle filling stations, redoing the basement dressing rooms and washrooms which have suffered moisture damage, and building an outdoor cement pad so their Zamboni can dump snow on level ground.

“It will make a good dent in the project list. And right now we’re in conversation with an architect to ensure the work we do at the arena will last long-term and not just be a band-aid solution.”

Tetrault was pleasantly surprised that the arena was one of the grant’s recipients, but adds that the board will continue applying for grants as they begin tackling the maintenance projects at hand.

“As these structures get older, more and more things need to be done to make sure they survive,” Tetrault states.

The board plans on making use of this money almost immediately as they begin their renovations.