Rink change area: There are separate men's and womens' changerooms, but staff tell everyone to change in the womens' changeroom while the mens' changeroom stays locked. The floor in the changeroom is rubber. There are no windows, but the changeroom is clean.

To inquire about rink permits call 311.

---

Comments about this rink: e-mail us at [email protected].

The Lawrence Park Athletic Association runs part of its kids' hockey program at Glen Long Rink (also some at Hodgson, some at Otter Creek).

Rink Diary

2022 - 2023

Jan.15, 2023, from S.I.

At 11:45am I was on the ice by myself and the staff guy came out to yell at me to get off the ice as I was "not even supposed to be on there" and he could " lose his job." As I was about to leave another gentleman came by and informed the staff he was wrong and that it was in fact shinny time. Staff apologized for having the schedule wrong, scraped the ice with the Zamboni and then allowed us on.

---

Rink diaries from earlier years:

2021 - 2022

Nov.27, 2021

Opened for the season

Dec.3, 2021

marked as closed for "ice conditions." Temp. is 0 celsius, cloudy

---

2020 - 2021

Nov.28, 2020

Opened for the season.

COVID-RELATED RESTRICTIONS: To find out how to book a skating time, go to the city's outdoor rinks web page.
All shinny hockey has been removed except for Greenwood (and only children and youth are allowed there). The city's opening rules are described here and our rinks blog is here.

2019 - 2020

No reports

2018 - 2019

Jan.23, 2019

The rink is one of two city rinks marked as closed (8 p.m.), again "covered in snow."

Jan.19, 2019

4 p.m.: -- one of the first two city rinks listed as closed (covered in snow).

Nov.26, 2018

This rink has been mostly open since Nov.24, but is marked as closed at 8 pm. (Steady rain all day.)

---

2017 - 2018

March 18, 2018

This rink was closed for the season today, but it was closed for about half the days of the rink season as well.

---

September 11, 2017

A letter was sent to the city councillor, offering a donation of a complete skate loan collection for this rink.

Our reasons:
* people love to borrow skates: newcomers, school classes, kids and youth who grew out of their skates
* we have 110 skates, 20 hockey sticks, 20 helmets to donate
* this kind of program has been done by city staff for 12 years at Dufferin Rink, 9 years at Wallace and Campbell -- lots of experienced staff, each one teach one
* staff often have time on their hands to lend skates and also to maintain skates
* the city has insurance that can cover this (the city is self-insured under $5 million anyway), but skate lending programs are rarely threatened with a claim if they do responsible skate maintenance.

Offer declined.

---

2016 - 2017

Dec.13 2016

This rink has been listed as open for more days recently, but since the snowfall of Dec.11, it has been marked as closed: "covered in snow." At 9.30 a.m., it's more than 24 hours since any snow fell, yet the same message is still there.

Dec.3, 2016

This rink has been closed more than it's been open, as is the pattern with many North Toronto rinks. At noon, at 4 celsius, sun and cloud, it's the only rink in the city listed as closed for "poor ice conditions."

Nov.27, 2016

At 10.30 a.m. the rink was unlocked but empty. Nobody seemed to be around. Since the official opening yesterday, Glen Long Rink has alternated between being listed as open or closed every few hours. Same as its sister rinks in North Toronto, same as every year.

---

2015 - 2016

March 15, 2016

The rink is a big puddle but the compressors are still going. Apparently CIMCO just hasn't come by to shut them down yet. But the staff says they got the order to close for the season last Friday March 11, just like almost all the other rinks did. Nevertheless, the city's website still has the "March 20, weather permitting" closing date for this and three other North York rinks. They're listed as closed under "alerts," as if they might open again anytime.

March 10, 2016

This rink has been closed almost as many days as it was open during this season, part of the North York style of conservative ice management, focused on having the best ice for permit holders. During March, this rink has been listed as closed most of the time, but it's still on the schedule as being open until March 20.

Feb.1, 2015

8 p.m.: Temp. 3 degrees, rinks listed as closed.

January 31, 2016

At 2.15 pm the rink had six pleasure-skaters on it. Although it was 9 degrees, the ice looked in good shape. There were two coffee urns on a table nearby, so we thought maybe this meant that they were also planning a social skating time like the one that just finished at Irving Chapley Rink. Tried to find out, but the two staff, presumably rink guards, who were sitting inside the rink office were too involved in a conversation to come out and answer questions.

Dec.22, 2015

This rink has been listed as closed a great deal, like a number of other North Toronto rinks, and again today. At 9.30 p.m. it was listed as closed. However, that's wrong. A permit was just going on and the ice looked fine. The players said it was good.

The zamboni driver said he just opened it for the permit. He said they closed it during the day because it had two inches of water on it and "we only close the rink if it's unsafe."

Perhaps they also close it if a permit is coming and they want to protect the ice for the permit. That's a bit like the old days, when the outdoor rinks in North Toronto only opened for permits, stayed closed much of the rest of the time even if a rink operator was sitting in his office by himself, for hours.

Nov.28, 2015

This rink was scheduled to open today but it has fairly thin ice and is not going to be open (according to the rink operator) until Monday or Tuesday. Apparently they didn't even try to make ice until Friday (yesterday) because of the weather forecast. The rink operator said he would be alone -- no other staff scheduled, so he would not be able to hose the rink because it would be dangerous, However, he could use the zamboni.

The staff at this rink have maintained for years that their compressors are weak.

---

2014 - 2015

A problem with the HOLIDAY HOURS: it appears on the city's rink information website/311 that almost all of the city's rinks will have their changerooms/washrooms locked on the three main holidays: Christmas Day, Boxing Day (yes!), and New Year's Day. You can skate on most of the rinks but you can't get your kids out of the cold to change their skates and you can't take them to the washroom. This is true for Glen Long, and even worse: this rink will be closed on two other school holidays: Dec.24 and again on Dec.31.

What's the message here -- "you should be drinking, not skating" -- ?

Letter from rink user, Dec.6 2014

Response from CityRinks, Dec.6, 2014

Nov.26 2014

The rink opened on Nov.22, closed Nov.23, re-opened Nov.26.

---

2013-2014

March 1, 2014

Nov.23, 2013

At 11.15 the rink gate was open, but there were no skaters around. The zamboni was putting down water on what looked like thin but skateable ice. There were mats laid out to both the women's and men's change rooms, but only the men's change room was unlocked.

The zamboni driver said that no skaters had showed up yet. He thought it might be because all the schedules said the rink would open on Nov.24. But he said a rink guard was scheduled for 2 pm, at public skating time, and there might be some skaters coming then.

Nov.20 2013

There were signs of ice-making but the front gate was locked as it so often is. Wendy Jang, the year she was rinks supervisor, got some big banner signs made to highlight the rinks. Glen Long had a really big one, stretched across the back fence near the swimming pool. But now there's just empty fence. The on-duty recreation staff agreed that it would be good to post a sign about the rink going to open soon, and said he would make one.

There was a layer of ice on the rink, maybe half an inch, some of it a bit watery, as though the rink was being flooded in the daytime. (It was cold but sunny.) But there was no one around to ask.

---

2012-2013

---

2011 - 2012

Thursday Nov.17 2011

11.55pm: The rink has had some flooding, but the ice made so far looks crunchy and rough. The compressors are on. No staff around and the gates are all locked. The mats and benches are out ready. It's possible they could be ready by the weekend if staff came to flood later in the night, but it was deserted at 12am

The rink schedule sign is up on the wall.

Tuesday Nov.22 2011, 5 pm:

I couldn't get close enough to chat with anyone, but there were a lot of staff for an empty rink! 2 guys in the zamboni garage smoking...perhaps getting ready for a flood, but it they didn't come out while I was there. Plus 2 more staff in the office having a chat. The ice looked very rough and patchy like it had melted and broken up. Compressors were on, but all the public access is still locked up/fenced off.

Friday Nov.25 2011

10.10 a.m.: The rink is locked and there is no sign anywhere. But then I run into the caretaker/rink staff. He says that they've only done hose floods so far -- worried that the zamboni is too heavy and would crack the thin ice. No overnight floods, and maybe not many floods, period. He says that maybe they don't have very much power to freeze ice when it's warm. I say that 100 Hp is good strength for a rink that size.

He doesn't think they'll open this weekend because of the warm weather.

---

Saturday Jan.14 2012

The city's website listed Glen Long as open for "pleasure-skating only" from yesterday until mid-day today. That usually means there's snow on the rink. But here is an e-mail from Amanda P.: "I am a resident in the Glen Long neighbourhood and actually the rink was open last night. I attended the public skating session from 6-8 p.m. I spoke with maintenance staff asking about the conditions of the ice, and they said they had to close for a little bit but was open for the 4 p.m. shinny hockey program. I swung by today to take my dog for a walk, and despite the frigid temperature, there were a group of people on the ice around 2:30 p.m. Hope this helps!"

---

Diary 2010 - 2011
Rink Diary 2009 - 2010
Diary 2008 - 2009
Diary 2007 - 2008

Views of the rink

Until 2009, this neighbourhood rink was often locked

The windowless changerooms are cheerless but clean.

From The City of Toronto Website 2014-15

For the skating schedule, go to Glen Long, then click on drop-in programs then click on Skating'.

Glen Long Rink history:

Graduate history student Jason Stabler tried to find out about the rink's history, and the story of Glen Long Park and the surrounding neighbourhood.

In March 2010 he wrote:

I talked to the North York Library on the phone. They told me:

--the Toronto Parks book has nothing in it about Glen Long Park

--the Compendium of Metro Parks has nothing in it about Glen Long Park

--Glen Long Park is within the Bathurst South Parks Planning Area in the Community of Glen Park

There are two newspaper references:

---1: Glen Long Park was built as a Community building project of the Dufferin Lions Club in 1961, who later gave the park to Toronto Parks.

---2: Plan to build Pool and Rink occurred in 1963

--a search for Glen Long on Google led to website called: luxurytorontorealestate.com This website refers to the community centre and community of Glen Park history. Sir Sanford Fleming used to live in Glen Park.

I visited the Toronto Public Archives:

--The only direct reference to the park was the photos of the park on the website.

--There were old TTC route maps which show how the neighborhood has been covered by the TTC.

--They have minutes from meetings of the North York City Council which may reference the park**This would require further research which could take substantial time as the records may need to be gone through by hand

--They have aerial photos of every neighborhood in the city from the 1950 to today.--By looking at these in sequence you can see the construction of the park and any changes that have been made.

Rink Diary

2022 - 2023

Jan.15, 2023, from S.I.

At 11:45am I was on the ice by myself and the staff guy came out to yell at me to get off the ice as I was "not even supposed to be on there" and he could " lose his job." As I was about to leave another gentleman came by and informed the staff he was wrong and that it was in fact shinny time. Staff apologized for having the schedule wrong, scraped the ice with the Zamboni and then allowed us on.

---

Rink diaries from earlier years:

2021 - 2022

Nov.27, 2021

Opened for the season

Dec.3, 2021

marked as closed for "ice conditions." Temp. is 0 celsius, cloudy

---

2020 - 2021

Nov.28, 2020

Opened for the season.

COVID-RELATED RESTRICTIONS: To find out how to book a skating time, go to the city's outdoor rinks web page.
All shinny hockey has been removed except for Greenwood (and only children and youth are allowed there). The city's opening rules are described here and our rinks blog is here.

2019 - 2020

No reports

2018 - 2019

Jan.23, 2019

The rink is one of two city rinks marked as closed (8 p.m.), again "covered in snow."

Jan.19, 2019

4 p.m.: -- one of the first two city rinks listed as closed (covered in snow).

Nov.26, 2018

This rink has been mostly open since Nov.24, but is marked as closed at 8 pm. (Steady rain all day.)

---

2017 - 2018

March 18, 2018

This rink was closed for the season today, but it was closed for about half the days of the rink season as well.

---

September 11, 2017

A letter was sent to the city councillor, offering a donation of a complete skate loan collection for this rink.

Our reasons:
* people love to borrow skates: newcomers, school classes, kids and youth who grew out of their skates
* we have 110 skates, 20 hockey sticks, 20 helmets to donate
* this kind of program has been done by city staff for 12 years at Dufferin Rink, 9 years at Wallace and Campbell -- lots of experienced staff, each one teach one
* staff often have time on their hands to lend skates and also to maintain skates
* the city has insurance that can cover this (the city is self-insured under $5 million anyway), but skate lending programs are rarely threatened with a claim if they do responsible skate maintenance.

Offer declined.

---

2016 - 2017

Dec.13 2016

This rink has been listed as open for more days recently, but since the snowfall of Dec.11, it has been marked as closed: "covered in snow." At 9.30 a.m., it's more than 24 hours since any snow fell, yet the same message is still there.

Dec.3, 2016

This rink has been closed more than it's been open, as is the pattern with many North Toronto rinks. At noon, at 4 celsius, sun and cloud, it's the only rink in the city listed as closed for "poor ice conditions."

Nov.27, 2016

At 10.30 a.m. the rink was unlocked but empty. Nobody seemed to be around. Since the official opening yesterday, Glen Long Rink has alternated between being listed as open or closed every few hours. Same as its sister rinks in North Toronto, same as every year.

---

2015 - 2016

March 15, 2016

The rink is a big puddle but the compressors are still going. Apparently CIMCO just hasn't come by to shut them down yet. But the staff says they got the order to close for the season last Friday March 11, just like almost all the other rinks did. Nevertheless, the city's website still has the "March 20, weather permitting" closing date for this and three other North York rinks. They're listed as closed under "alerts," as if they might open again anytime.

March 10, 2016

This rink has been closed almost as many days as it was open during this season, part of the North York style of conservative ice management, focused on having the best ice for permit holders. During March, this rink has been listed as closed most of the time, but it's still on the schedule as being open until March 20.

Feb.1, 2015

8 p.m.: Temp. 3 degrees, rinks listed as closed.

January 31, 2016

At 2.15 pm the rink had six pleasure-skaters on it. Although it was 9 degrees, the ice looked in good shape. There were two coffee urns on a table nearby, so we thought maybe this meant that they were also planning a social skating time like the one that just finished at Irving Chapley Rink. Tried to find out, but the two staff, presumably rink guards, who were sitting inside the rink office were too involved in a conversation to come out and answer questions.

Dec.22, 2015

This rink has been listed as closed a great deal, like a number of other North Toronto rinks, and again today. At 9.30 p.m. it was listed as closed. However, that's wrong. A permit was just going on and the ice looked fine. The players said it was good.

The zamboni driver said he just opened it for the permit. He said they closed it during the day because it had two inches of water on it and "we only close the rink if it's unsafe."

Perhaps they also close it if a permit is coming and they want to protect the ice for the permit. That's a bit like the old days, when the outdoor rinks in North Toronto only opened for permits, stayed closed much of the rest of the time even if a rink operator was sitting in his office by himself, for hours.

Nov.28, 2015

This rink was scheduled to open today but it has fairly thin ice and is not going to be open (according to the rink operator) until Monday or Tuesday. Apparently they didn't even try to make ice until Friday (yesterday) because of the weather forecast. The rink operator said he would be alone -- no other staff scheduled, so he would not be able to hose the rink because it would be dangerous, However, he could use the zamboni.

The staff at this rink have maintained for years that their compressors are weak.

---

2014 - 2015

A problem with the HOLIDAY HOURS: it appears on the city's rink information website/311 that almost all of the city's rinks will have their changerooms/washrooms locked on the three main holidays: Christmas Day, Boxing Day (yes!), and New Year's Day. You can skate on most of the rinks but you can't get your kids out of the cold to change their skates and you can't take them to the washroom. This is true for Glen Long, and even worse: this rink will be closed on two other school holidays: Dec.24 and again on Dec.31.

What's the message here -- "you should be drinking, not skating" -- ?

Letter from rink user, Dec.6 2014

Response from CityRinks, Dec.6, 2014

Nov.26 2014

The rink opened on Nov.22, closed Nov.23, re-opened Nov.26.

---

2013-2014

March 1, 2014

Nov.23, 2013

At 11.15 the rink gate was open, but there were no skaters around. The zamboni was putting down water on what looked like thin but skateable ice. There were mats laid out to both the women's and men's change rooms, but only the men's change room was unlocked.

The zamboni driver said that no skaters had showed up yet. He thought it might be because all the schedules said the rink would open on Nov.24. But he said a rink guard was scheduled for 2 pm, at public skating time, and there might be some skaters coming then.

Nov.20 2013

There were signs of ice-making but the front gate was locked as it so often is. Wendy Jang, the year she was rinks supervisor, got some big banner signs made to highlight the rinks. Glen Long had a really big one, stretched across the back fence near the swimming pool. But now there's just empty fence. The on-duty recreation staff agreed that it would be good to post a sign about the rink going to open soon, and said he would make one.

There was a layer of ice on the rink, maybe half an inch, some of it a bit watery, as though the rink was being flooded in the daytime. (It was cold but sunny.) But there was no one around to ask.

---

2012-2013

---

2011 - 2012

Thursday Nov.17 2011

11.55pm: The rink has had some flooding, but the ice made so far looks crunchy and rough. The compressors are on. No staff around and the gates are all locked. The mats and benches are out ready. It's possible they could be ready by the weekend if staff came to flood later in the night, but it was deserted at 12am

The rink schedule sign is up on the wall.

Tuesday Nov.22 2011, 5 pm:

I couldn't get close enough to chat with anyone, but there were a lot of staff for an empty rink! 2 guys in the zamboni garage smoking...perhaps getting ready for a flood, but it they didn't come out while I was there. Plus 2 more staff in the office having a chat. The ice looked very rough and patchy like it had melted and broken up. Compressors were on, but all the public access is still locked up/fenced off.

Friday Nov.25 2011

10.10 a.m.: The rink is locked and there is no sign anywhere. But then I run into the caretaker/rink staff. He says that they've only done hose floods so far -- worried that the zamboni is too heavy and would crack the thin ice. No overnight floods, and maybe not many floods, period. He says that maybe they don't have very much power to freeze ice when it's warm. I say that 100 Hp is good strength for a rink that size.

He doesn't think they'll open this weekend because of the warm weather.

---

Saturday Jan.14 2012

The city's website listed Glen Long as open for "pleasure-skating only" from yesterday until mid-day today. That usually means there's snow on the rink. But here is an e-mail from Amanda P.: "I am a resident in the Glen Long neighbourhood and actually the rink was open last night. I attended the public skating session from 6-8 p.m. I spoke with maintenance staff asking about the conditions of the ice, and they said they had to close for a little bit but was open for the 4 p.m. shinny hockey program. I swung by today to take my dog for a walk, and despite the frigid temperature, there were a group of people on the ice around 2:30 p.m. Hope this helps!"

---

Diary 2010 - 2011
Rink Diary 2009 - 2010
Diary 2008 - 2009
Diary 2007 - 2008

---

Diary 2010 - 2011
Rink Diary 2009 - 2010
Diary 2008 - 2009
Diary 2007 - 2008