NORWAY – It’s not easy taking care of the town’s skating rink.

“We’re at the mercy of God with this thing,” chuckled Bruce Fox of Norway. He has volunteered to take care of the rink on Cottage Street for the past 15 years after he stopped to help another volunteer lugging fire department hose up the street over his shoulder.

Fox said the drainage problem with the rink has been ongoing for years and probably stems from the fact that it is built above the surrounding ground level.

At one time, he said, Hancock Lumber donated wood to build sides to the rink and to construct a skate shed, but when they rotted they were taken down. The town tried paving the area but that didn’t work because the sun would come out and melt the ice quickly.

“They need a low spot,” he said.

Additionally, Fox said the rink needs a new liner because the current one leaks and backs up, causing drainage problems that result in uneven ice.

“It makes it tough,” he said of the work he does to clear the rink for skating.

Fox said he is able to get the Fire Department hose and hitches it up to a nearby hydrant to flood the rink at night when necessary, but with snow coming every other night now, and then melting, it has been increasingly hard this year to maintain smooth ice.

“The kids still enjoy it,” he said of the scores of kids who come to the rink to skate.

A shed filled with more than 100 ice skates of all sizes is also on site to provide those without skates the opportunity to use them.

“We’re at the mercy of the weather,” he said