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20th Anniversary of the Haynes Pavilion

Posted On: Dec 02, 2020

Haynes Pavilion will celebrate its 20th year in operation on Thursday, December 3rd 2020.

Originally designed as an open air seasonal refrigerated skating facility, and an off-season multi-use building, the Haynes Pavilion at the Gallatin County Fairgrounds is now enclosed and operations have expanded to include a second sheet of ice.

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How and why did the Haynes Pavilion get built?

Starting with a dream of building a refrigerated ice rink, the Bozeman Amateur Hockey Association (BAHA), the City of Bozeman, and Gallatin County were joined by area businesses in constructing the area’s first covered refrigerated ice rink.

BAHA had been operating at Bogert Park Pavilion for 17 years. With the ever-growing popularity of recreational ice sports, more specifically youth and adult hockey programs, it became time to look for a new venue.

“There was pressure on the city to move hockey away from Bogert Park, as it was growing and noisy for the neighbors,” said Rob Pertzborn, BAHA Board member, adult commissioner emeritus, and then an intern at Prugh & Lenon Architects. “BAHA needed to have reliable conditioned ice – and the city said it was time to move and helped with the money. I suggested we call it Haynes Pavilion, named after Yellowstone photographer FJ Haynes, in order to increase our chances at getting the sale proceeds from a building the Haynes Family had donated to the city.”

The original year-round recreational facility, which took two seasons to construct, was made possible largely by the hard work and generous contributions of BAHA volunteer labor, area suppliers, and specialized services.

How did the project get started/Who were the key people involved?

Ken Younger, former BAHA Board President and organizer of the current Legends of Hockey (over-60 league), played a couple of roles in the Haynes Pavilion construction: skeptical nay-sayer (as he put it) and general laborer.

“During early meetings about the possibility of building a rink, I analyzed the cash flow realities, need for endless volunteer hours, lack of money on hand, and limited fundraising. I gave a presentation concluding that it couldn’t be done,” said Younger. Yet while Younger was saying it couldn’t be done, the founding leaders and volunteers just pushed forward against the odds.

The project cost was of the biggest concern before and during construction. Dan Swanson, also a former BAHA Board President, put together a grant proposal to the NHL Players Association. The NHLPA Goals and Dreams Fund approved the grant and contributed the final $60,000 toward the completion of the refrigerated flooring system and mechanical rooms. Haynes Pavilion was the first rink in North American to receive NHLPA funding at the time.

Dan Swanson became involved in the project after standing up to the director of hockey at the Ice Garden in a public meeting. “Younger soon recruited me to the Board of Directors where I started as treasurer and also wrote the newsletter communicating to the BAHA membership about progress on developing affordable refrigerated ice in the City of Bozeman.”

Once the building plans were in place, the key leading roles were assigned, and the necessary funds were raised, construction began in 1999.

Build 17

What did the construction look like?

Joe Nelson of Barnard Construction led the construction effort in the spring of 1999 and called in favors from dozens of construction and supply companies. Rodger Stolzfus and Jimmy Canatta rolled up their sleeves and didn’t look back, leading with their skills and showing endless dedication that became an inspiration for others who soon followed suit.

Scott Lundberg, former BAHA Board Member, was at the rink most of the summer and fall of 1999 working on whatever needed to be done. “Since we were trying to do most of the grunt work with volunteers, that consisted of digging, building forms for and packing the foundations of the columns that hold the pavilion roof up, placing and screeding sand, cutting and fitting insulation panels and cutting and placing rebar for the floor,” said Lundberg.

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“At one point, Joe Nelson and I were working on this and calculated that we had about 64,000 wire ties to go since we were placing #5 rebar on 2' centers. I took interest in the refrigeration and was learning what I could about how that system worked, so occasionally was helping there too, usually when my back and wrists hurt from doing wire ties.”

“The most memorable part for me was the concrete pour,” Lundberg said. “There was an army of people from Concrete Materials and Lonesome Dove working together with a pump truck and a crater crane getting the 350 yards of concrete poured without interruption over 10 hours.”

“When construction started, I did low skill jobs shoulder to shoulder with a jillion other volunteers; I was a gopher amongst foremen,” said Younger. “Joe Nelson was unbelievable in his hands-on work, and he wrangled the use of, and operated, a front end loader.”

Inside 09062k

“The most gratifying part of the whole affair was to see the huge number of volunteers and the many professional craftsmen who donated services and materials,” said Younger. “Unbelievable; I surely underestimated the willingness and passion of the early BAHA pioneers.”

“It was a very long slog but volunteering on nights and weekends we built a solid foundation and sense of camaraderie in our future,” said Dan Swanson.

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Official Opening of Haynes

In its first year, the new rink more than quadrupled the number of skating days available in the city. The youth hockey program doubled in size and new programs were launched, including a girls hockey program. In the summer, the pavilion is still used for diverse activities such as roller derby, farmers market, and summer fair booths, making it a multi-use facility.

Growth and Expansion of Haynes Pavilion

In 2006 the Haynes Pavilion was fully enclosed and insulated. However, due to the growing interest in organized ice programming along with the closure of the Valley Ice Garden in 2006, the demand at Haynes Pavilion soon exceeded its capacity.

The Gallatin Ice Foundation (GIF) was soon established with a vision to provide the Gallatin Valley with a year-round refrigerated ice rink. After raising $3.55 million in cash and pledges and another $2.9 million in financing for its Raise the Barn campaign, the first phase of The Ice Barn was completed in February of 2017. This phase included the building shell and an additional refrigerated ice sheet. Participation numbers doubled within the first year of operation and continue to grow.

GIF launched its Finish the Ice Barn campaign in the Spring of 2020 with the goal of completing the interior of the building. This multi-million dollar project is expected to be finished in the next few years and includes significant spectator seating and amenities as well as multiple locker rooms that will be a significant asset to the community and region.

Rink View

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