December, 2007 edition of the Bemidji Pioneer:

Arena Capital Campaign Gets Boost

By Michelle Ruckdaschel
Bemidji Pioneer Staff Writer

The Bemidji Community Arena will move closer to its goal of becoming spectator-ready and adding a second rink with the help of a grant.
Donors recently offered a $125,000 matching grant for the arena’s capital campaign.
“The good news is for every dollar we raise, we get two,” said Hugh Welle, one of the capital campaign organizers.
The Bemidji Youth Hockey Association, which owns the arena, has been using it for practices since it opened five years ago. However, players cannot compete at the arena, which is located next to Bemidji High School, until a warm lobby and public restrooms are constructed.
Welle said the donors of the matching grant, who wish to remain anonymous, will match up to $50,000 of any new donations to the capital campaign yet this year, and up to $25,000 of new donations each of the next three years.
“Our total goal is to raise about $1.5 million,” Welle said.
He said donors have committed a total of $762,600 so far to the capital campaign, not including the matching grant.
The George W. Neilson Foundation has committed $650,000 over the next five years and Beltrami County has committed $27,600 in 2007 development funds. Meanwhile, capital campaign organizers are requesting that Beltrami County increase its commitment to $50,000.
“And then we have a variety of other gifts that have been made,” Welle said.
The Paul Bunyan International Hockey Tournament, which holds a tournament each year in Bemidji, has committed $10,000, and parents with children involved in Bemidji Youth Hockey donated about $50,000 during a drive last summer, for example.
Also, an effort to solicit gifts from the business community is under way, Welle said. He said one of the pacesetters is the First National Bank Foundation, which has committed $25,000 to the project.
If donors come up with a minimum of $300,000 by the end of this year to add to the commitments already made to the campaign, construction will start in the spring to make the arena spectator-ready by the 2008-09 hockey season.
“The $125,000 match will allow us to get to that goal quicker,” Welle said.
Lumberjacks’ home?
Besides making the arena spectator-ready with public restrooms and a warm lobby, and thus ready to host competitions, Welle said the multiphase vision also includes adding a second rink, which would be used for practices.
He added that the long-term goal is to make the arena the home of BHS hockey, which currently competes primarily at Nymore Arena. If this happens, he said the Bemidji School District would have $350,000 of work to do to complete the locker rooms, according to today’s estimate.
The school district would be a major user of the arena if the arena becomes ready for competitions, said Chris Leinen, the school district’s director of business services.
“We’d love to have that be the home of the Lumberjacks,” he said.
He said having a completed arena will allow for a more clear and focused discussion on the future of the arena.
“One of the issues we have is obviously ownership, and those discussions are ongoing,” Leinen said.
He said it would make sense for the school district to own the arena as it is located on school district property.
“Is it economically viable? Well, that’s yet to be determined,” Leinen said.
Due to the demand for ice, BHS’s hockey teams play few games at Bemidji State University’s John Glas Fieldhouse, Welle said. Once spectator-ready, the Bemidji Community Arena will be similar in capacity to the fieldhouse, he said.
He said there is a long-standing relationship between Bemidji Youth Hockey and the school district. He said the BYHA has had ongoing meetings with the school district since former Superintendent Rollie Morud signed an agreement in January 2000 allowing the BYHA to build the arena on the BHS campus.
He added that the city of Bemidji has allowed Bemidji Youth Hockey to use the arena, which is completely operated by volunteers, during the past five years on a limited basis for practice only.
Boosts the economy
Investing in youth hockey also can be an investment in the local economy. Every winter, Bemidji is home to about 10 youth hockey tournaments, each involving 8-16 teams, Welle said.
“It’s a tremendous boost to our local economy,” he said.
For more details on the arena’s capital campaign, call Dan Dow, president of the Bemidji Community Arena board, at 444-3625, or Jeff Solheim, capital campaign chairman, at (218) 766-1022.
Donations to the capital campaign can be mailed to Bemidji Community Arena, P.O. Box 1901, Bemidji, MN 56619-1901. Donations are tax-deductible.