Community-owned indoor skating and curling rinks are central to Saskatchewan culture.

The province's Rink Affordability Grant helps municipalities, schools, non-profits andd First Nations to offset the cost of rink operations and minor capital upgrades. Successful applicants receive an annual grant of $2500 per indoor ice surface.

Darin Banadyga, the province's Executive Director of Sport, Recreation and Stewardship says this grant can go a long way.

"I think for a lot of communities in Saskatchewan this grant can make the difference between offering a program or maybe extending the hours of the facility and we know from some of the feedback and comments that we get that certainly organizations and communities are able to continue to offer programs or to continue to keep the costs under control."

Banadyga said they are happy to continue with this very beneficial grant, "this is the fourth year that we have offered this grant to communities in Saskatchewan, we're just doing a little bit of a reminder that registrations for this granting program are closing in mid December and we've got a lot of communities that benefit from this grant, we just want to make sure that everyone that is eligible is able to their registration in on time this year."

Over the past three years, the program has granted $4.8 million. The government is committing $1.7 million this year.

In our area Humboldt, Bruno, Drake, Englefeld, Kelvington and Lake Lenore have all received cheques through the program in the past.