Forum’s 109 years of debate
Another delay? For… Um… What purpose?
by Katy Jean
The Halifax Forum entered its 98th year over the winter.
But the argument about its costs and purpose entered their 108th year at the same time and are poised to continue even longer.
The Forum started as a replacement of the Provincial Exhibition Building destroyed in the Halifax Explosion in 1917. And ever since, it has been cursed by price tags, questions of service, and threats of closure.
After the destruction of the Provincial Exhibition Building, a small covered ice rink was built while city council and the province argued over what to do with the property.
Everyone agreed the space should remain public. But it shouldn’t be too expensive.
But the project became more and more expensive the longer it took a few good men to agree on the budget.
Eventually, in 1926, alderman Louis Gastonguay suggested the budget should be $150,000 for the new grounds and buildings that would include ice rinks, a horse racing track and stables, an industrial building, and general exhibition facilities.
When the building was finally done in 1927, a decade after the explosion, it came in over budget at $373,804.
The brand spankin’ new Forum put out a call to boys 8-14 to come and play hockey on the first artificial ice surface east of Montreal on December 27, 1927.
A public skate that over 1,000 attended was held with a live band (a regular feature at public skates back then).
The first official hockey game was played, 40 minutes late, between the Crescents and the Canadian National Recreation Club. It was remarked that the game went very fast due to the perfection of the artificial ice.
Dartmouth’s natural rink failed to freeze that year.
