WEST LEBANON — The finish date for Campion Rink’s multimillion renovation is now unknown and its completion will require at least another $2 million dollars, organizers said recently.

When announcing the remodeling last April, Hanover Improvement Society president Don Derrick said completion of a $5 million fundraising effort would cover virtually everything from a new lobby, locker room and rink office to new ice-making equipment and boards and glass.

After an initial construction phase in 2023, Derrick said at the time, there would be subsequent, summer work to finish the effort. The second phase was expected to be undertaken in 2024 and a third effort, if necessary, during 2025. The $5 million goal was reached in December, with the society and the Jack & Dorothy Byrne Foundation each contributing $1 million.

During an interview last week, however, society general manager Jeff Graham said that $5 million is no longer enough.

Derrick hinted at this development in a January news release, writing that “our initial fundraising effort has been met.”

“Construction costs have risen significantly since we began,” Derrick continued in the release. “Our second phase… will require additional fundraising, which our team is prepared to carry out.”

Only recently, however, has the additional fundraising’s required magnitude become apparent.

“When the final (construction) bids came in, we went ‘Whoa,’” Derrick said Wednesday. “Now, that $ 2-3 million number is as generic as the $5 million number was.”

Derrick said he’s unsure when a second round of fundraising will start.

“We’re not anticipating more construction next summer because we need time to raise more money,” he said. “I would hope we can start the second round of construction (in 2025), but I don’t think anyone feels comfortable saying anything at the moment in construction.”

That’s potentially problematic for rink operation because the building’s compressors and piping were taken from Dartmouth College’s Davis Rink, which existed from 1929-1985. Campion’s sand floor is one of the last such setups in New England.

“If something breaks in that system, it might take six months to get a replacement from India,” Derrick said last year.

Graham is emphasizing what’s being done rather than what’s still needed.

“It’s wonderful,” he said. “I go down there every day and take photos to update our website. This is a project that was discussed for many years and now we can say that it’s actually happening.”

Campion, which is open seven days a week for nearly six months, hosts 80,000 users per year, Graham said, noting that they come from 40 Twin State communities. There are 24 regular user groups, including the boys and girls high school teams from Hanover and Lebanon, the Skating Club at Dartmouth and students from the college’s Tuck School of Business.

The current renovation work needs to be finished by early September because the rink’s old-fashioned sand floor must be saturated with water and frozen before ice can be made atop it. The entire process takes about two weeks, a timeline that should be greatly reduced if a modern, concrete slab floor with embedded piping is eventually laid down.

“It’s basically going to be a brand new rink when it’s all done,” Graham said.

The general manager noted that 770 donors chipped in this time, including the Improvement Society and the Jack & Dorothy Byrne Foundation, which each gave $1 million.

“We have a fundraising committee that will go hard after money for Phase II,” Graham said. “We’re hoping people will see where their money went and how much nicer it’s made the rink and will step up again.”

About 40 people attended a ceremonial groundbreaking on April 21 in front of the gutted arena. There’s nothing but darkened, open space beneath the rink’s peaked roof at the moment, but Graham told the gathering that Campion’s skaters can expect their usual, late September start.

“We will be open,” Graham said with deadpan humor. “We cannot afford not to be open.”

The question now is whether rink supporters can afford the renovation’s final price tag.

Tris Wykes can be reached at twykes@vnews.com.

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