To the editor:

If you walked through the doors of our reopened, reimagined Saranac Lake Civic Center in the last few months, thank you. If you skated on our world-class ice this season, thank you. If you volunteered at any of our events, thank you. If you felt compelled to donate and keep us going, thank you.

Our skating season ended April 9. The ice is gone. The memories are not. And please know that we are already hard at work thinking about next season.

You took a chance on us. Some of you showed your support in person. Some of you cheered us from behind the scenes. We saw you. We felt you. We thank you. And please know, we need you. We needed you this season. We will need you next season. We will need you for all seasons.

This building is for the community. We have many goals as an organization but we hold one above all others — we must, and we will, serve as a beacon for this community. And we did that, proudly.

We offered 75 hours of free public skating this season. We had toddlers on the ice, we had retirees on the ice and every age group in between. Our Silver Skaters program was an immense success. We brought people into our wonderful community by offering tournaments for every age group, pee wees all the way to the college level.

You came, you skated, you might have slipped and even fell a few times, and we hope you enjoyed every second of it.

I say it again. This building is for the community. To all of you, particularly our generous donors and sponsors, thank you. Our season was a success. On to the next. With gratitude,

Ollie Burgess

President, Saranac Lake Civic Center Board of Directors, on behalf of the board