• Friday-What'sUP January 15 - 08:16 am

Bundle up, lace up the skates, grab your stick and SCORE on Dad! Does it get any better than this for a Yooper youngster? Brita Haapala managed to capture the scoring AND the concentration of the next player skating in for her turn at the net! The cold and snow of the Keweenaw turn moments like this, into memories that will stick in those young minds for years to come. Playing hockey with Dad in the backyard… priceless!

When the kids were small we would flood the backyard and it was some of the best fun we had. No matter what game there's nothing like scoring that first goal on Dad to announce that we are groing up. Great picture and looks like the ice will hang around for a few days.

Another great memory to start my day. I miss ice skating. When I was young we skated almost everyday all winter. Now we rarely get enough ice so the only skating kids do is in rinks. My own boys didn't learn to skate until they were teenagers. I find it sad. Not sure I could even stand on skates any more. Have a good day.

Good morning from Mishawaka IN. GREAT SHOT!

Fantastic!!! As they say..."A kid on ice is seldom in hot water"....this shows the power of GOOD PARENTAGE!!! Keep up the wonderful work!!!

Reminds me of my hockey girl, who was also the Pasty Girl some years back (number 20)...

During the winter where I grew up the boys down at the fire station came and filled up the tennis courts (only one's in town) with water and it froze until late March. That's how I got my high school sweetheart of 5 years and we still remain friends today. Don't get much skating in AMA because our hockey team is on the ice most days.

He shoots......He SCORES!!
Anyone really miss the NHL season yet?

Playing hockey with Dad in the backyard… priceless. We skated and played hockey all day long in Hubbell and Tamarack Mills and at the end of the day we would help sweep and scrape the ice and the local volunteer fire department would be there at 11:pm to flood for the next days skating. Do any of you remember the "skating parties" where the local talent would be on display???? Not of Olympic talent but still facinated the locals.

Much nicer than the pick-up hockey games my brothers played years ago! When I was growing up near Detroit, we would skate on the Ecorse River (known to all kids as 'the crick') which at the time was the most polluted stream in Michigan. Storm sewers along the way kept the edges ice-free, so you had to jump across open water onto the ice and never knew whether it was going to hold you. The water underneath was shallow but mucky. My brothers played hockey on it. When the puck went off the edge of the ice, one would pull off his coat and feel around in the water for it. It is a wonder we all survived childhood!

Hard for young ones to believe, but when I was growing up in Detroit, we had cold winters. My Dad would flood our whole backyard. There was a huge elm in the middle, and we would skate and skate around that tree. Have wonderful memories of my aunts and families coming over, lacing up their skates, and enjoying the cold.

Guess you gotta go north to have proper winter weather now!

Thanks, Brita, another wonderful picture.

Ahhh, the figure skating days! Great picture! Makes me want to throw on my skates again! Hey Rachel, L.B.- have you taken Dorothy skating yet? I bet she'll fit into our old skating costumes before long!

I still have the Canadian Flyers my grandfather purchased for me when I was a kid. They are blue with silver fur around the tops. We used to skate in the pond behind the folks house in Milford. Dad pulled a few out of that old pond when the ice wasn't thick enough. You are right, it's a wonder we all made all survived.

What a great picture. I grew up in Mohawk and we walked to Fulton everyday to skate! Nothing like outdoor skating.

Sarah stuck in ohio,

Haven't found any double-bladed skates yet. Remember those?

Thanks for the great memories today. I wasn't very good at ice skating, but I sure loved heading over to the Bicentennial in Laurium for my lessons.

Fond memories of spending the night panking snow and flooding Fulton rink. making it ready for a new season. Then the many hours of shoveling snow to clear the rink after a blizzard. It was all worth while though, for the many hours of skating and playing hockey. Also did the same at Mohawk rink, but it never seemed to draw as big a crowd as Fulton.

Great picture ! As kids growing up in Painesdale, we had mega street hockey games, as there was no ice rink. Often there were lengthy delays in looking for the puck, when it was shot into the snow bank. My parents often wondered why I went through winter boots so quickly! We did have our own rink back up on the bog off the end of Baltic Street. The ice was brown, as the bog water was tannic acid stained. We also built a warming shack from scrap lumber we "borrowed" from abandoned houses.

Pleasant memories......

Can't forget the many games of swamper hockey played under the street light on Cliff St. in Mohawk also

I grew up in Kingsford and was lucky that the village (then a village) would ice-up vacant lots throughout the village. There was one less then a block from our house. All winter we kids would meet and the figure skaters and hockey players would share the small rinks lit up into the night by the street lights. Iron Mountain had a big rink that had a warming house and MUSIC! Every once in awhile the parents would take us up there. Mom was a wonderful skater, skating well into her 60's. Thanks again for another set of memories.

I think I have that knitting pattern for that nice striped hat she is wearing. I made the identical one for my Grand-daughter! Nice and warm. Never forget your hat in cold weather!

Where was the old Fulton ice rink located? My friends and I used to walk from Albion to the community ice rink in Laurium on Friday and Saturday nights . Sometimes we left our skates on when it was time to go home, which made the trip a little faster. Heck we skated daily on the roads in the neighborhood too. We didn't always go to the rink. I don't recall ever having my skates sharpened as a kid either. Dull or not we made do. We played outdoors for hours at a time in the winter, many times I couldn't feel my feet they were so froze. The good old days. sigh

Hey Sarah and Rachel, I remember seeing lots of pictures of you on skate. This picture today sure brings back those memories. Dorothy is ready for single blade skates.

It's refreshing to see kids playing outside. Today's youth have been raised by Playstation, TV and Internet. Somehow that just doesn't seem normal to me: psychologically, physically or otherwise.

When I read the post of Mike - Transplanted Yooper - Redford, Mi. I heard the voice of Bud Lynch calling one of the plays of Mr. Hockey, aka Gordie Howe.

Another cute picture, Brita. I love your album. My kids all learn to skate in the backyard by pushing a set-up folding chair. It sure doesn't take the little ones long to learn. They have no fear of learning -- unlike adults.

In the 30s we learned to skate by pushing the kitchen chair arround the back yard rink, (my dad got a bad case of sinusitis flooding it that year.) We soon graduated to the Palestra a few blocks away. Is there anyone out there who used to skate in the Palestra when it was in Laurium? or was it Redjacket? Our Mom skated there when she lived in Calumet.They moved it to Marquette in 1926! We had the Palestra sign in our basement for 30 years, and now the County Historical society hopes to use it in a Display. Glad that you aren't going to shut the site down.

Just retook up skating this winter after 25+ years away from it. I was really surprised at how skates have changed, much lighter and more surport.

Lauren Grove,Dee stadium,Chassell,Ripley,Tamarack,Northwoods Motel,Armory,Lake Linden,Hubbell,Jacobsville..... Care to add to the list?

Before my dad installed a bunch of drainage tiles through the back yard, we'd flood pretty well every fall, and I'd be able to skate from one end of the yard to the other at our sub-Detroit home. Dad'd get the tractor out after it snowed and clear it back off for me. The lot next door had an area the flooded pretty well too, and I'd go play hockey with the boys from across the neighborhood. Never had a hockey stick, but I was pretty good at controlling the puck with my skates instead. They teased me for my figure skates, but the toe picks always helped me win the races we had across the pond.

Yard stays dry now though - no more skating into trees, I guess. (Those shagbark hickories can be hard on the nose!)

A classic shot, Brita! Did Claire dish off to Sam for the assist? Hats off to Hans for keeping the rink up. The old Fulton rink was located at the west end of your block (Central St). It was on the south side just past the present day Eino Jurmu Memorial Municipal Park. They kept that rink going for decades -- I think into the 70's. The Ahmeek rink has still been kept up into recent years. Nothing like skating under the open night sky.

Roudy, Laurium kids skated first at the old airport (LOOOOOOOONG ago), now at the Bi. Swedetown had a great outdoor rink for many years (also long ago, up to the mid-60s). Those were great times.

Is the Keweenaw having a snow day today? The bridge cam and the airport look brutal, and with temps at zero and below, and lots of wind, it does not look like a good day for kids to be outside.

I guess we weren't the only ones with a flooded backyard in the Detroit area. It was always such fun. Like the kid with the pool in the summer, we were the magnet house all winter! The boys, wanting to play hockey and the girls, wanting to twirl! What neat memories. Thanks, Dad (wherever you are), for taking the time and knowing how much fun that was every year!

I like the little guy's "chuk" a word we grew up calling our hats. Brings back fond memories of the backyard rink games.

We flooded our small back yard in Melvindale for our sons then they graduated to play in the Ice Box in Brownstown. In the mid 80's our oldest son played hockey for Southern Cal for 2 years and traveled all over the west coast. One of his teammates was from Chassell.

Hey Charlie, I was also number 20 when I played hockey. I played on a MTU women's intramural team a long time ago. I always wore #20 in honor of Mark “The Bird” Fidrych, my favorite baseball player when I was a kid. We had so much fun playing hockey at Tech - in fact, it was the women's intramural hockey that sealed my decision to go to Tech. That was some fun!

I was partial to # 14. Tony Butkovich

Even traded passes with Fran Lowney. AWWWW there I go again.

My Dad always made us an ice rink in the backyard too. Thanks Dad :-)

tHERES GOING TO BE 2 HOCKEY GAMES TOMORROW AT THE CALUMET ARMORY---Calumet and Marquette iron rangers---ones at 11AM others at 3PM--give your team some support

Menominee had a huge outdoor rink during the 1930's & 40's. "The Circus Grounds" were located west of the Interstate bridge. There was a warming shack with a pot-belly stove and piped-out music. The older folks skated around the periphera, the kids fooled around in the center, including some figure skaters, and a hockey rink was at the far western end. We were warned to stay away from the hockey end--those people were ROUGH! Years later after I moved to Houghton I learned from their mother that some of the Noblet boys skated there. The rink was always crowded and was a wonderful thing for the community. How much better than being a couch potato.

Pine street rink is where I learned to skate--down by Demarse ice houses and calumet dam--Built in the 30s--they had a hockey team---Pine Street Trogens

Does anyone remember skating on Saturday afternoons at the Colosseum (before it was the Armory)in Calumet? That was in the '40's. After a Friday night hockey game, the ice was pretty chopped up.

Thank you for looking! Coincidentally, we live right down the street from the old Fulton rink. Wish it was still there. Maybe we should revive it...

Mikeobrien: They are still called "chuks" here. If you don't have a "chuk" on, then you must be the proud owner of a Stormy Kromer.
Yup, it's a snow day here in the Keweenaw due to the wind chill but lots of the school kids are out in their chuks playing street hockey!
(Don't tell the school principals though)

My Dad made ice rinks for us in the back yard all through the 60's (in Ironwood). It was a good place for the neighbor kids to go. Whoever wanted to skate had to help keep the rink clean. We even had an old radio outside so we could skate to music. My Dad would put on his old hockey skates and tool around with us. Great memories as well as good times.

How about the Laurium ice rink? The one between Isle Royale Street and Florida street, almost in Sturois's backyard. Al Harvey?

Had lots of fun on that one. My mom skated at the old "car barn", south Florida street, I'm sure we have some that remember that one and the South Side Bandit hockey team (Lauruim).

Fall of "74" my parents bought a house on Duck Lk. in Highland Mi.From that winter on until I moved out, to Houston in "81" my winter's were spent ice fishing and skating, all winter. My dad after working all day and driving back and forth from Southfield would come home strap on his skates and join us out on the lake skating.On the weekends he would build a fire on the shore, and mom would have a big pot of hot chocolate staying warm on the stove.
Talk about great family time spent together. No cable tv, no X box, no computors. Just good old fashion family fun.

Hey Mohawkfinn, was just wondering who you are. I managed the Fulton rink in the early fifties.

My mom always told us stories of the skating parties she'd go to as a girl at the rink in Calumet. I've always loved to skate, partially due to those stories I believe. Miss you mom.

I think "chuk" came about after the Canadian word "tuque" (or "toque") which winter hats have always been known as there. Whatever they are called everyone better have them on today, -2 F with a windchill of -23 F at last check.

Hi! Hopefully we'll be able to make it up there sometime soon and play hockey with you. Looks like lots of fun. We all miss you!

I remember skating parties that we had almost every weekend, with music and a local "DJ", at the skating rink by the school in downtown Pelkie. With a big potbelly stove in the warming shack to warm our toes. What fun we had!

I remember my sisters, brother and I use to love to ice skate at the rink in Tamarack. Do they still have it? I'm talking 1964 when we skated there.

I remember the old Laurium ice rink. Nothing like
skating beneath the stars. Then the walk home to
Florida location was fun. The snow banks were so
high you could barely see the houses.

I remember my friends and I had our own rink on Portage Lake near my home in west Hancock in the early 60's. We cut a hole in the ice to get water to flood the rink and ice the banks. We had a shack with an old wood stove to change and keep warm. Unfortunately the shack caught fire and burned which pretty much ended our rink days. Lots of good memories.

former yooper now Texan

Hey Mohawk Finn, are you living in Florida for the winter, maybe we met in our youth, I had a friend that lived on Cliff St in Mohawk in the 50's.

How many oudoor rinks are still maintained. As a youngster I remember skating with family and friends at Dodgeville, West Houghton, Chassell, Cobertown,Swedetown, and Baltic. We played mud gutter, tag and crack the whip and of course the boys took the girls hats and the girls chased the boys and vise versa. If you ever skated at Dodgeville you have to remember Clifford and his airplane. Oh the memories.....

Uhm... Something tells me that it's not FOG I'm seeing on the bridge cam! Oh, how I envy you folks!

Check out my gallery, on page 48 today. Have a couple of pics of the old Fulton rink from 1964. The rink was on Central street. Brita tells me there is a park there now.

Whoa! Just went whooshing through the time tunnel to bygone days!! What fun! Loved ice skating, didn't play hockey, but had fun just the same.
Thanks for the trip down memory lane.

When listening to the oldies on the radio, I recognize an "Ice Rink" song immediately. We would put our skates on at home and walk from South Range to Baltic. Sparks would fly as we ran across M-26. "Sunshine" (Aladino Vettori) offered bus service to the kids from the Range towns to the Baltic rink. We were always happy to see Sunshine because he kept an eye on the activites inside the building and on the rink. We younger,timid kids were defenseless and Sunshine saved our hides and our pride more than once; also,to be scolded by him after attempting to pull a prank was the topic during the walk home. No more. He can see through walls. Respectful behavior applied to all.
If the streets were icy, we were stumbling around with our skates on. If there was a frozen puddle, it was a temporary rink,even if there was room for one. When the grass was green,the skating season was officially over.
Today's picture brings back LOTS of memories. Thanks!

I remember many a nights skating at the Keasarge rink & putting my 15 minutes of shoveling the banks back. We were really lucky we had a warming house & music,hot chocolate,etc.etc. My parents run it for many years & such good memories. Anyone else remember those nites? You could hear the music from the Copper City rink & Fulson rink on a still nite. Remember bumper rides? Have a good evening.Thank you Charlie & everyone at Pasty Central for this site.

Dale,
We would come up from Fulton and play hockey on the Laurium ice rink. I don't remember the name of the team from there, but it was in the early 50's.

I wonder how many old friendships, have been re-kindled, because of this wonderful site?

Mohawk Finn--I have found many "old" friends thanks to pasty and just the other day found my old 6th grade teacher. I helped the older guys pank the snow to get ready for flooding at the Fulton rink. Alan Piirala was one of the guys I remember and another was Jocko I think. I remember "swamper hockey" too and "shagging bumpers". Man what fun we had back then.

anyone out there remember Union park in Benton
Harbor?

What a great day on Pasty.cam. Thanks Brita for a great picture that triggered a trip down "Memory Lane". There was nothing better than a beautiful winter night on a outdoor rink, music playing, hot chocolate, and everybody enjoying good friends and the best of times. Those truly were "good old days". Guess you had to be there. Laurium community rink on Isle Royale st.

Kingsford and Iron Mountain still have neighborhood rinks, the city crews keep them plowed and flooded. The rinks are round in shape because the flooding is done with a truck with a tank on the back and a watering bar with a bunch of holes in it located across the back of the truck and close to the ground. The trucks go around in a circle while doing the flooding, thus the round shape. The ice isn't very smooth but I do notice that people, both kids and adults use these rinks. Good, outdoor fun. When I was a kid living in Laurium, we skated at the Community Rink which was kinda down towards the old airport. I lived in the 100 block of South Pewabic. We had to scrape the ice to keep the snow off, I don't know who did the flooding. Eventually the snow banks would get so big and would encroach on the ice so the Village of Laurium would come in with their SnoGo and blow the snow out.

I just had to respond to ed/mi with the skating parties at the Hubbell rink. We didn't know about Olympic talent back then. We thought these people were great. I think we went to that rink every night we could in the winter. If we were really lucky, we'd get a dime to spend. Remember the warming shack? We'd skate until our feet were frozen and then have to walk home. What great memories.

Ron, a Plymouth Valiant!!

Ed--Yep that's it!!

I remember that rink by your house Al. Don't remember the shack burning tho. Did Vic and one of his buddies have something to do with it?

Did anyone skate at the Hillside rink in Hancock? It was just down the hill from the Lookout on Quincy hill. It cost ten cents. How about the rink that the Dover family had on Minnesota St.? We walked to Lauren Grove many times also. One more-Whispering Pines rink on the upper highway?

Almost forgot-we have an outdoor rink here in San Jose. Never skated around palm trees before, but it's really neat. They set up a portable ice plant for about a month and charge twelve bucks-skates included.

Growing up in Detroit after the family moved
down from the U.P., I fondly remember my dad
making an ice rink as well as a small ski hill
in our backyard. Everybody stayed outside to
play until their clothes were wet and then dried
them on the radiators ready to be worn again
after lunch or supper.

I remember the Hillside rink in Hancock. My cousin lived on Pine Street, just a hop and a skip from there. We were regular fixtures throughout most of the 70's. Good times!

Great to read the sharing of everyone's memories. I remember the ice rink across the street from Houghton High School, the music playing, the hot chocolate, and all the fun we had as kids. One of our neighbors down the street in West Houghton always had a rink in their back yard. I can remember putting my skates on at home and just walking over there to skate. Such fun. Does anyone remember skating at Dee Stadium too? I remember as a kid taking figure skating lessons from the Dahlquists. They were such beautiful skaters and we used to love to watch them dance on the ice. I hope all the kids growing up today in the Yoop are still having these wonderful experiences. They are tremendously fortunate!

I remember skating at the Whispering Pines, Lake Linden, Hubbell, Tamarack Mills and out at the Pelto cottage (next door to Albin Saari's.) (Was that Point Mills?) Was fun skating on the lake across from the Onigaming Yacht Club. We'd hold our jackets open and the wind would really get you going! Must be 30 or 35 years since I've had skates on. :>(

Anyone remember Albert and Carl LeBlanc skating at the rink in Hubbell? Carl could make such nice designs on the ice with his skates. I think he was pretty good at figure skating. I remember skating on the old C&H building foundation/floor. The building was gone, but the concrete floor made a really nice rink. It was east of the Lincoln school. Even had a shack and lights and a sound system.

Growing up in Marquette back in the 60's....our neighbors (the Campbells) always had a rink in their back yard...we had alot of fun on that one...pretending we were the Iron Rangers!!!..the Marlowes, Loumas, Larsens, (me).....learning to skate at the Palestra..!! Junior hockey games every saturday morning....I played for the Moose Lodge.....Thanks, Moose members!!!!!!

My husband and I remember the Laurium Ice Rink very well. Skated there every night during the winter. Many nights the only skating you had was scrapping the snow off the ice with your skates on. When you shoveled off an area, it was time to go home, curfew time. We skated home many times. My husband played youth hockey on the Rutila Paint Store, Jukuri's Sauna teams.

My husband and I remember the Laurium Ice Rink on Florida Street. We skated there every night during the winters. Sometimes the only skating we got in some nights was the scrapping the snow off the ice with our skates on, then it was time to go home. We skated home on the streets often. My husband played youth hockey there, for the Rutila Paint Store and Jukuri' Sauna. Pleasant memories!!!

anybody remember the ice rink behind the former
secretary of state building in east hancock?
a neighborhood favorite at the time also!

I don't remember Albert and Carl LeBlanc skating, (I do remember them tho), but do remember a Kepler and he was a very good skater. He had horses just up the street from where I lived. My mom told me a story about one cold but relatively snowless winter when they skated on the lake from Hubbell to Ripley.

In addition to skating on the family pond in Jacobsville, I also used to skate on Lake Superior during my pre-teen and early teen years while my dad was ice fishing. This would have been during the late 60's and into the 70's. Nothing like a big lake with unlimited space to skate on. Although, I do remember getting a nasty wind/sun burn on my face one year from being out too long with the winter sun reflecting off the ice.

With all the mentioning of the Hubbell skaters, I just had to mention my Uncle George Pini. Now, if I have my story correct, his nickname, "Flash", came from the speed with which he could skate! Several of his kids watch this site, so correct me if I'm wrong, George or Theresa!

To Laurie/Ishpeming: That would be Fred Kappler and I think he used to teach figure skating. I don't know if he still skates, but I do know he still has horses!

I grew up a few doors south of the rink in Chassell and remember what a big deal it was on the weekend it was flooded. A whole bunch of people from the area would take turns for an all-nighter. The fire department helped for a couple of years, then an improved water line was installed with a hose about twice the diameter of a garden hose. It used to take a long time clean it off after a snow. We had a snowblower in the 70's and it was used to blow the snow that was scraped from the ice over the boards. If it was really heavy, some of neighbors would show up their blowers.

To SDC in Ferndale, no the Tamarack rink no longer exists as an active skating rink. Not too many children left in Tamarack.
I remember Fred Kappler skating every year at the annual skating party in Hubbell. Paul Beauchamp would put up colored lights over the regular ones to give it that special effect. I remember Pauly's all night "flooding parties" at the beginning of the winters. We would stay up all night, a bunch of kids with him and we would flood every hour or so depending on how cold it was to build up an ice base. Then he would treat us to pop and hot dogs and tell stories all night in the "shack", while our soaked mittens thawed on the stove. Once the ice was thick enough he could use his jeep on heavy snow days to clear off the ice but we still had to shovel the boards. It was a lot of shoveling but we didnt mind it, because it was fun. How it has all changed now.

to Jar...Wisconsin:
Thanks for the info on the Tamarack rink. That is too bad it doesn't exist anymore. We sure had fun as kids skating on that rink and I also remember the warming shack...once my older sister and I went in to warm up in the shack (circa 1964), my other sister was playing crack the whip, she was the end person and got "cracked" and went off flying and ended up cracking her head on the ice. She was out for a few seconds but came to. The ice monitor said we better get her home. On the way home she kept saying "look at all the pretty lights". Being it was after Christmas, she didn't remember what she got for Christmas. When we got home we took her to the kitchen plying her with hot cocoa not saying a word to our mother. We kept her up for hours asking her questions until we felt she was "back to normal"....but, all in all we had fun way back when.

The rink in East Hancock was called the Terrace. It was one of the 3 outdoor rinks in Hancock, along with the Hillside and Lauren Grove. It was the second home of Herb Boxer, future MTU Huskie coach along with Ollankato, Downey, Hendrickson and many others. I used to wear the goalie pads we found in the warming shack made from folded-up carpeting.