The town of Wynyard is anxiously looking forward next skating season in its new arena. Thanks to a major donation of $400,000 by the Wynyard Co-operative, the arena will come with a new name: Co-operative Place.

The new arena, built adjacent to the sports ground and the golf course, will serve multiple purposes throughout the sporting year. Town of Wynyard's Chief Administrative Officer, Jason Chorneyko, highlights the uses for the new facility, "We put the arena on the sports grounds to make it as full-year usage as we could get. At the end of the day, it's an arena, but there is also a 200 seat mezzanine level for rent, for watching games, or whatever events are happening in there." 

The new arena will also serve as the clubhouse for the adjacent golf course starting in the 2020 season.  The arena is scheduled for completion this June.

The Wynyard Co-op became involved after the town of Wynyard sought submissions for naming rights to the new facility. Negotiations began with the Wynyard Coop which ultimately led to the final proposal.

General Manager for the Wynyard Co-op, Bob Nienaber, was pleased with the Co-op's part in bringing the long-awaited arena to its completion. "Co-ops have always been a big part of the community," explained Nienaber, "and certainly this is something we wanted to be a part of. So we made a donation to the town for $400,000 over a 20 year time period. So we're donating $20,000 a year basically to the town of Wynyard."

The name Co-operative Place goes beyond a sponsorship thinks Nienaber. "It was a co-operative effort to get it put together, it was a co-operative effort to fundraise for the facility, and definitely it's going to be a co-operative effort  moving forward with volunteers in volunteers and helping out for the different functions."

The total cost of the facility is approximately $10 million dollars. Jason Cherneyko and the town of Wynyard acknowledges the naming rights contribution goes a long way to supporting the completion of this important complex.