Young talent shines in Skate Sea2Sky’s 'Pied Piper' performances

Their skates are sharpened and their costumes are ready to go. Youth at the Skate Sea2Sky Skating Club are polishing their numbers for their upcoming annual holiday skating show. 

"The Pied Piper Presents a Fairy-tale Fantasy," a by-donation, family-friendly show, takes to the rink at Brennan Park for three performances. The first is on Saturday, Dec 9, at 1 p.m., the second show is the same day at 5.30 p.m. The last show is on Dec. 10 at 1. p.m.

"It is a fairy tale fantasy hosted by the Pied Piper," explained the club's head coach Kari-Ann MacDonald.

"The [typical] Pied Piper has the flute and is a bit evil; our Pied Piper is actually collecting all the fairy tales for the fairy tale ball at the end."

More than 180 skaters are involved in the 24 numbers— there are nine solo performances—performed in the 1.5-hour (including intermission) show.

There is also a bake sale and raffles.

MacDonald hopes the community comes out in droves to see the hard work the kids have put into their performances. 

"We don't ask for a dime; we hope that people donate. It's a community event," she said. "Basically, support the community, support the kids."

Like most youth events, the shows are run by volunteers. Whether you can give a little time or a lot, MacDonald said it is not too late to sign up to help with the upcoming performances.

Find out more or sign up on the Skate Sea2Sky website.

'We got really good results' 

It has been a winning start to the club's season. 

MacDonald says the numbers of youth enrolled in the club increased a lot, as it has since the pandemic. 

She said this fall saw the most CanSkate skaters to sign up in her 30 years of coaching. 

MacDonald credits the growth of Squamish's population and the "amazing program" Skate Sea2Sky runs. 

Word of mouth of happy returning skaters and families has been responsible for a lot of the growth, she said.

"I firmly believe we deliver a really good learn-to-skate program for the community, and through that, we have seen growth," she said. 

The club has also seen a lot of victories on the ice. 

"At all three competitions we got really good results," MacDonald said of the fall series of skating championships.

"Basically, we had an amazing amount of medals."

The first competition was the Fall Super Series in Parksville in late September.

Next, the club had skaters compete at the Chilliwack-based Autumn Leaves Super Series after Thanksgiving.

The last competition in late November saw 26 skaters from the club attend the 2023 BC Coast Region Jingle Blades Regional Competition in North Surrey.

"We spent three long days there. And I think the results helped us get through because the kids were just all performing," she said.

Just the sheer number of club members who competed was impressive, she said. 

"I would say that probably 75% of our kids participated in all three competitions," MacDonald said, proudly.