For the first time in nearly two years, the game didn’t need to end when the sun set at the Old Kona Airport Park hockey rink on Wednesday.
For the first time in nearly two years, the game didn’t need to end when the sun set at the Old Kona Airport Park hockey rink on Wednesday.
Nearly two dozen hockey players tested out newly installed lights, playing into the evening, long after the sun had dipped below the horizon.
The rink lost its lights after Tropical Storm Flossie knocked down two of the eight poles in July of 2013 and the country condemned the area, clearing out the remaining lights for safety reasons.
While the rink has been mainly funded through donations from local businesses and community members — including a large contribution from Pepsi Co. that equipped the rink with boards, glass — the County of Hawaii paid for the new lights. However, the lights were installed on donated time by volunteers from West Hawaii Hockey. The installation took less than a week.
On top of being available for public use through the day, the facility houses a variety of groups and activities, including youth and adult hockey leagues, roller derby, arena soccer and even the occasional bike polo game.
The rink users pay for their own electricity.
Before the rink was built in 1998, West Hawaii Hockey functioned out of the parking lot north of the Kona Community Aquatic Center.