The Barrie Arena, located on Dunlop Street, will close after Christmas.

Once the new Holly Recreation Centre opens in January, the skating and hockey teams now playing on the downtown ice surface, which dates back to the early 1950s, will be moved to the new centre just off of Essa Road.

“Because the Holly facility is opening in the middle of the ice season, it’s too late for hockey and skating groups to expand their programs. We will have staff at the new Holly Rec Centre, and we’re going to take those users from Dunlop and move them to one of the arenas at Holly,” said Sid Armatage, Barrie’s leisure, transit and facilities director.

“What we do in the future will be decided in the next couple of months. We’re completing a structural analysis and examining the work that needs to be done to bring (the Barrie Arena) up to code. If it costs more (than rebuilding), similar to what happened at King Edward School, we will recommend the arena be removed.”

The site has featured a city arena since the early 1930s, when the city built the first Barrie Arena. It was expanded in the 1950s, when Barrie Flyers owner Hap Emms demanded a larger facility to accommodate more spectators for the team that dominated the Ontario Hockey League on its way to winning the Memorial Cup in 1951 and 1953.

Despite the city’s efforts to expand the arena, Emms relocated the team to Niagara Falls and finally to Sudbury, when the team became the Sudbury Wolves.