FULTON, NY – The Fulton Recreation Center has entered the Kraft Hockeyville contest for the chance to win $150,000 in rink upgrades and the opportunity to host a pre-season National Hockey League game.
The contest relies heavily on community support, utilizing a Community Rally Page for members of the community to earn rally points toward scoring in the judging phase of the contest.
Until March 11, community members are able to garner “Rally Points” by writing stories, adding pictures and videos, writing a note, reacting to others’ posts, or sharing Fulton’s Rally Page on Twitter.
Members of the public can add a story by answering the three essay questions provided with a minimum of 150 characters and no more than 1,000 characters for each answer.
The story questions include: 1) “How would you describe your community’s passion and spirit for hockey?” 2) “What rink project would most benefit from the prize money?” and 3) “Why should your community be the next Kraft Hockeyville USA 2018?”
Stories will be reviewed and approved before being posted.
Each approved story will earn the Fulton Recreation Center 10 Rally Points.
Utilizing the Twitter share icon to share a pre-populated message about the contest will earn the Fulton Recreation Center five Rally Points for each share.
Each photo or video submitted will earn the Fulton Recreation Center three Rally Points.
Videos must be less than two minutes long with five picture or video submissions allowed per person.
Reacting to other people’s posts by clicking the emoji icons will earn the Fulton Recreation Center one Rally Point. 15 reactions are allowed per person.
Finally, adding a note of no more than 140 characters to Fulton’s Rally Page will secure one point per note for the Fulton Recreation Center.
Rally points make up 10 percent of the judging criteria.
The remaining 90 percent will come from all eligible story submissions and will be judged by a panel of Sponsor, NHL and NHLPA representatives.
The official rules state that judging of story submissions will be based off: “Depiction of community’s passion for hockey (30%); Examples of actions/events that demonstrate spirit (30%); Description of how money would be used (30%); Creativity and overall effort (10%).”
“The more stories, the better!” Fulton Youth Hockey President Jeff Schremp said.
Schremp said the Fulton Recreation Center could use the $150,000 in a multitude of ways.
First, the locker rooms would receive a complete overhaul and update. An estimate given last year puts the cost of that project in the $75,000 range, he said.
Second, a new Zamboni would be purchased for the rink to keep the ice clean, a cost of roughly $50,000 he said.
Finally, any remaining money would be put into general upkeep and repairs of the rink, he said.
“Our organization is run entirely by volunteers which means from September through March, we are running the facility. We pay the bills, we run the snack bar, the open skates, the games, everything. It’s more than just youth hockey. Right down to when the bathrooms need toilet paper restocked, one of our volunteers does it,” Schremp said.
While the Recreation Department of the city helps as much as possible, he said, the rink is primarily run through several volunteers and finances are raised through events at the rink throughout the season which must raise at least $100,000 for yearly operations to be met.
Not often is there enough extra money to finance necessary repairs and upkeep, so the winning prize from the Kraft Hockeyville contest will give volunteers the ability to give the Fulton Recreation Center the love and attention they feel it deserves, Schremp said.
Aside from $150,000, the winning rink will have the opportunity to host a pre-season NHL game.
In the event that the rink does not meet the requirements for an NHL game, the game will be held at the nearest alternative rink that is capable of hosting.
After the grand prize winner, one first place winner will receive $30,000 in rink upgrades while two second place winners will receive $10,000 in rink upgrades.
Submissions can be made to the Fulton Recreation Center Rally Page until March 11.
The judging phase will take place from March 11 – 16.
The top four finalists will be announced in early April at which time voting will open to determine the grand prize winner.
To help the Fulton Recreation Center on their quest to be the 2018 Hockeyville, USA visit the Fulton Community Rally Page here to make a submission.
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