POLSON, MT — A $1.35 million state grant is bringing Mission Valley one step closer to its first ice arena, a project more than a decade in the making that supporters say will transform winter recreation in the region.
(WATCH: $1.35M state grant puts Mission Valley within reach of finally building its first ice arena)
The Mission Valley Ice Arena Association secured the funding through a Montana Tourism Development Grant from the Department of Commerce. The grant is designed to make Montana communities more vibrant and visitor-friendly. Groundbreaking is scheduled for early August in Polson.
Board Chair Devin Huntley said the nonprofit has raised over $4 million in 10 years, but the project needed a financial boost to move forward.
"The money we raised just wasn't enough to do it anymore, and this tourism grant really put us over the top," Huntley said.
The association still has about $1 million left to raise. Huntley, a hockey player himself, said the arena will benefit both residents and visitors.
"We want to give people something to do in the winter so you don't have to travel out of the county and pay a fee. You can still have a lot of fun, get some good exercise and spend time with other people," Huntley said.
For athletes like Summer Newman, the arena represents something deeply personal. The recent Polson High School graduate played hockey all four years of high school — but without a local rink, she traveled an hour each way, four days a week to practice, playing for the Flathead Fusion and Junior Steelheads from middle school through high school.
"Just being able to have the discipline of 'oh I am tired,' but I can't sit there and be tired because I have to keep up on all this stuff," Newman said.
Newman said a local arena would have made the experience more like any other high school sport.
"It would've been like any other high school sport where you have your sports complex right there, instead of taking an entire evening to get up there," Newman said.
Now a Division III college athlete at Hilbert College, Newman hopes the arena will open the same doors for the next generation of Mission Valley athletes.
"It would be so much, not only to have this community who has been with me most my life, but being interested in a sport that has helped me grow," Newman said.
"It would just mean so much for these kids to get to experience what I got to experience growing up," Newman said.
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