Those visiting the Island Savings Centre these days may be wondering if they're hallucinating. It's not very often in the middle of a drought that you can pass by trees at the community centre and see their bases surrounded by snow.
The ice is now in at the Cowichan Arena and the maintenance crew has found a better use for the Zamboni shavings than just adding it to the pile out back — they're watering the facility's gardens.
"One of our guys came up with it," Island Savings Centre operations coordinator Brad Coleman said Monday. "They were looking at some of the dying trees the other day. Actually, we did it a little bit last year, they were just putting it around some of the plants."
Coleman said the rink shavings are just ice and don't contain any chemicals.
"There's not even that much dirt, really," Coleman said. "Maybe a little dirt off the tires when it comes outside."
Given where it's going, a little dirt doesn't seem like a big problem.
Coleman's proud of the thoughtfulness of his water-savvy staff.
"It's thinking outside the box, that's for sure," he added. "I think it's a great idea."
There's no word on whether the staff at the region's other arenas will follow suit.