By: Michael Bennett, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Ridgetown Independent News
If residents want to see the East Kent Memorial Arena receive a major facility upgrade, the community needs everyone’s assistance.
The 20th annual Kraft Hockeyville Contest is underway to determine which hockey community in each province and territory, and across Canada, stands above all the others.
In honour of its 20th anniversary, the 2026 Kraft Hockeyville Contest will award a $50,000 renovation to one arena in each of the 10 provinces and three territories.
And from those 13 winners, two arenas will be nominated for the grand prize, as a nationwide vote will determine the 2026 Kraft Hockeyville winner, who will receive a $250,000 renovation and host a National Hockey League exhibition game next fall.
In the past, one arena in Canada was selected for an upgrade and to host an NHL exhibition game.
If you would like to see the East Kent Memorial Arena in the running in the 2026 Kraft Hockeyville Contest, you need to go online to submit a story or video outlining why the facility deserves to be this year’s winner.
To begin the process, visit www.hockeyville.kraftheinz.com, then click on ‘Nominated Arenas’ and type in ‘Ridgetown’ in the search icon, which will take you to the Ridgetown Arena Rally Page.
The first step is to ‘sign in’ or ‘register,’ which allows you to submit a story or video.
Your story will be based on answering three questions: describe Ridgetown’s passion and spirit for hockey, why the arena is important to you and your family and how the community can use the $250,000 grand prize to upgrade the arena.
Submission must have a minimum of 150 characters and 1,000 characters, including spaces.
Videos must not exceed 100 MB in size and 2 minutes in length.
Once the first story or video is posted, others in the community can submit their own.
Photos of the East Kent Memorial Arena are also welcome.
A point system is in place: each story or video submission is worth 10 points, photos are worth 3 points, and Rally Notes are worth 1 point.
Points are also accumulated based on the number of ‘likes’ or emojis per submission.
Only one story and five pictures per person are permitted, and a maximum of 15 reactions per person per arena.
As of Friday afternoon, there have been no submissions to the Ridgetown Arena Rally Page.
If you would like to see examples of submissions, visit the Blenheim Arena Rally Page, where stories and photographs have been posted.
The contest is currently in the ‘Nominate and Rally’ phase, which runs until 11:59 p.m. on March 1.
A panel of judges will review all submissions to select the winning entry for each province and territory, with the winners being announced on March 14.
From these 13 arenas, judges will determine the two finalists for the $250,000 national grand prize.
There will be a nationwide online vote process that will begin on April 3 at 9 a.m. and end on April 4 at 5 p.m., with the 2026 Kraft Hockeyville grand prize champion announced later that night.
In 2015, Chatham Memorial Arena reached the final but lost to the Panorama Recreation Center Hockey Arena in North Saanich, B.C. A big, day-long party was held inside and outside Memorial Arena as thousands packed the area, only to go home disappointed when the B.C. arena was announced as the winner live on a Hockey Night in Canada broadcast. Both arenas earned $100,000 in upgrades, as the B.C. community hosted an NHL preseason game in the fall of 2015 between the Vancouver Canucks and San Jose Sharks.
So, if you’d like to see a significant upgrade and an NHL Exhibition game at the East Kent Memorial Arena next fall – go online, submit a story, video or pictures and ‘like’ posts on the Ridgetown Arena Rally Page.
