Even in the rain, good food and interesting conversations made yesterday's Spice of Life Festival another great event [loved La Liason's lamb sandwich and Tru Dim Sum's scallop dumpling].  Getting out to talk with the community about what is going on with Save Berkeley Iceland project is always great and reminds us again why we started this project.  It would be even better if there was a space in the community where we could go any time of the year to not just talk about the future of Berkeley Iceland in the community, but actually have it back as part of the community.

Naturally most of the talk at the booth was about the latest news - the possibility that Berkeley Iceland would become the next store in the Sports Basement chain. Naturally it was not a completely unbiased crowd, but after the eye rolling and various plays on the theme of "...are you kidding me...", the question was always "what can we do?" 

Recently, a usually reliable source let us know that the current owners of Berkeley Iceland, East Bay Iceland (EBI) is close to signing (or has possibly already signed) a contract with the SF-based discount sports retail chain Sports Basement for the sale of Berkeley Iceland.  While Sports Basement may be a good member of the communities in which it has stores, it is unlikely they are likely to reopen the Berkeley Iceland rink or become the community center that Berkeley Iceland was for 67 years.  Berkeley needs community spaces more than it needs more sports stores.

Sunday was a good day.  SBI was at the Solano Stroll, the 26-block party where North Berkeley and Albany come out to play.  This was our fourth Stroll and we always enjoy meeting folks interested in Berkeley Iceland and the ongoing efforts to save the historic rink.  It reminds us that what we have been doing is important to the community and why we need to keep going.  We are able to discuss our goals with a lot of people - mostly supporters but a few skeptics - which helps us develop a strategy to achieve our goals.

When the community, owners and city agree to get something done, it is amazing what can happen.  After a fire decimated the historic Sacramento Iceland structure, the Kerth family, which owns Sacramento Iceland, decided that they owed it to the community to reopen the rink.  Working with the community, hundreds of volunteers have been cleaning up the remnaints of the fire with the goal to open the rink, without it's roof, to celebrate the 70th anniversary of Sacramento Iceland's opening, 4 November 2010 [Sacramento Iceland opened three days after Berkeley Iceland].  There is a report in the ISI eNews that the City of Sacramento is providing a grant of $25,000 to help restore the original facade of the Iceland building. 

SBI salutes all the folks working to restore Sacramento Iceland to its community -  it will be worth a trip to Sacramento to skate there when it opens.  When you have a special place in your community, it is important to work together to preserve it.  This, more than anything else, is what has kept the Save Berkeley Iceland project going.