Listowel, Ont. arena with sad history coming down this spring

Troubled Listowel Memorial Arena soon to be rubble An arena with a shadowed past is set to be demolished by spring of 2021. CTV London's Scott Miller has more on the site's future.

Listowel, Ont. — The Listowel Memorial Arena will be coming down this spring, now that the Municipality of North Perth has accepted a tender from a Waterloo-based demolition company.

North Perth Mayor Todd Kasenberg says it's, “Tender in more way than one. We sought external bids, and selected a bidder. But, as well I think there is a lot of feeling in the community about the fact that we are, slowly but surely, moving towards the removal of that structure."

On Feb. 28, 1959, the roof of the Listowel Memorial Arena collapsed, killing seven peewee-aged hockey players, and their coach. The arena that stands here now was built in it’s wake.

Following the construction of a brand new arena in Listowel, North Perth council decided it was time for the Listowel Memorial Arena to come down.

“I think the consulting demolition company will be working at salvaging, as much as possible, the materials in the arena. Some of which may be made available in the public domain to those who were fans and supporters over the years,” says Kasenberg.

Although exactly what will happen to the land the Listowel Memorial Arena sits on has yet to be decided. Some “active recreational space” will remain on the site, as will some sort of memorial to the young lives lost over 60 years ago.

“I have every assurance that what will be done at the current site, the site we are replacing, will be done very tastefully and appropriately for our community,” says Kasenberg.

There’s still no defined timeline for the arena’s demolition, although it’s expected to be completed no later than the end of April.

“I would suspect we’ll see fairly significant action on this by the second quarter of 2021,” says Mayor Kasenberg.