Tim Leeds Havre Daily News tleeds@havredailynews.com
The Havre Ice Dome is now sporting a brand-new sound system, courtesy of a team effort by the Havre Youth Hockey Association and the Ag Committee of the Havre Area Chamber of Commerce. Les Odegard of the Ag Committee said the teaming of the two associations worked very well. “It was a needed improvement and it sounds like we have achieved it,” he said. “ We’re just grateful to be working together. It’s a good example of the community working together.” Jerry Hanson, manager of the Ice Dome, said he hopes more people will use the building now that the new system is installed. “It’s a big, beautiful building sitting up there on the south end of town and it gets lonely during the summer,” Hanson said. He said Mark Pritchard, owner of Mountain Sound in Great Falls, installed eight new speakers over the floor, moved the existing four speakers to the bleachers, added a six-disc compact disc changer, two amplifiers and a mixing board. With the mixer, Hanson said, he can now use any number of speakers he wants, adjusting it to the event. “We can direct the sound right above the crowd or away from the crowd,” he said. Hanson added that Pritchard said he was surprised by the quality of the sound he was able to get in the steel building. John Rosenbaum, past president of the Ag Committee, was in the Dome last week when Pritchard finished installing the system. “I thought it sounded very good,” he said. “It wasn’t anything like it was before.” Rosenbaum said that when the committee held its annual Ag Appreciation Banquet in the Ice Dome, and when other events were held there, it was dif- ficult to hear what was going on. “We decided maybe there was something we could do about that,” he said. The Ag Committee contacted Pritchard, who came up to look at the facility and gave the committee an estimate to install a new system. The committee then approached the Youth Hockey Association, and both groups started raising funds for the project. Hanson said Pritchard kept to the estimate he had given a year ago, despite increasing costs for the project. “He figured he made a donation of more than $500 staying with that price,” Hanson said. Odegard said each of the groups donated $3,890 to the project. The Ag Committee used fundraisers including a raffle and a silent auction, and the Hockey Association put money from its fundraisers including its silent auction to pay for the improvement. Havre businesses also donate toward the projEct, with Klabzuba Oil & Gas and Production Management both making significant contributions Odegard said. Rosenbaum said that while the community is working to build a multipurpose center that could house many events, until that becomes a reality the two groups wanted to improve what Havre has now. There aren’t many facilities that can house large events, he said. “We thought we would fix up what we do have and make it better,” he said. “ It really was a rewarding collaborative effort.” Hanson said the system is set up so when work is completed on building the upstairs section of the building an ongoing project being worked on as funds are available the sound system can be expanded to include that area. He said the Dome is used mostly for hockey during the winter, but it is used for many other events too, including the Ag Committee banquet, weddings, class reunions and holding the club boxing matches during its season. “And hopefully, with the new system, we can get more use out of it,” Hanson said, adding that people who want to use the building should contact him to make arrangements. Odegard said that was the intent of the project. “Havre’s got this building up there; it’s an excellent facility and it probably isn’t being used to its full capacity,” he said. “ I think we’re lucky to have it and should be utilizing it far more. That’s our goal, is to use the facility.”
