New outdoor ice rink opens in Cape Breton with ‘one of the best’ views

Christoph Mertinitz built a rink at the Red Farm in Howie Centre, N.S., and is eager to see the community use it.

A man from Germany is embracing his new home in Canada with the creation of an outdoor skating rink.

“Sometimes I look back, and I think back to myself, ‘How did all this happen?’” said Christoph Mertinitz, who moved to Cape Breton from Germany in 2022 to manage a property along Route 4 in Howie Centre, N.S., known as the Red Farm.

It’s a 400-acre piece of land that has hosted weddings and other special events. The venue also has a 12-room motel and a summer beer garden.

Last August, it was the site of a big outdoor concert headlined by Sloan.

“1,400 people on the property, enjoyed their time,” Mertinitz said. “Now, as a German guy, opening an ice rink for Canadians is a weird thing.”

Mertinitz explained the outdoor rink is the Red Farm’s latest attraction and an effort to get people onto the property in winter.

“(On Thursday), we had our first people here, skating a little bit, having a hot chocolate,” he said.

The ice surface is small – not quite big enough to play hockey – and has room for a limited number of skaters. The most unique part of the rink might be the view.

“The view – it’s one of the best that you can have,” Mertinitz said. “Skating here and looking down to the river to the other side, to Coxheath Mountain, what more do you want?”

While skating on the new outdoor rink has only just begun for the season, Mertinitz is hoping to have decent crowds over the weekend before the fresh sheet of ice is buried by the snowstorm that is expected Sunday into Monday.

For a man carving out a new life in a new country, there is an added bonus to having a sheet of ice like this.

“It’s not a German thing at all,” he said. “We don’t have ice rinks, nobody’s building an ice rink in Germany but that shows that I’m a little bit starting to adopt the Canadian mentality and slowly I’m becoming a little bit Canadian I think.”

He added that the recent subzero temperatures have been ideal for ice-making.

The rink is typically open Saturdays and Sunday from 1 to 5 p.m. The public is asked to make a donation.

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