The Town of Cobourg is inviting the public to attend a ceremony on Sunday (September 14) at the Cobourg Community Centre, where the Pond Arena will be officially renamed the Grace Bowen Arena in honour of the nine-year-old girl from Grafton who played hockey with the West Northumberland Girls Hockey Association before she passed away in 2015 from an aggressive form of bone cancer.
Back on April 9, famous Canadian actor Ryan Reynolds appeared virtually in a delegation to the Town of Cobourg’s community services, protection and economic development standing committee to propose the name change.
The Deadpool star, who had first met Grace more than 10 years ago, agreed to appear before the committee at the request of Grace’s parents Greg and Andrea, who attended the committee meeting in person along with Grace’s sister Mackenzie.
“It would be pretty beautiful if we could rename the arena the Grace Bowen Arena or the Grace Bowen Memorial Arena,” said Reynolds, after describing how he first met Grace when she was a guest of Canadian hockey legend Hayley Wickenheiser at the 2014 Canada’s Walk Of Fame ceremonies, where both Wickenheiser and Reynolds were inductees.
Reynolds said that meeting “changed my life,” attributing his encounter with Grace with a change in the way he approached his philanthropic work. Previously, he had kept out of the public eye and didn’t use the platform he had to advocate for the causes he supported.
As a result of meeting Grace, Reynolds began his tradition of making funny fundraising campaign videos in support of SickKids, where Grace received 11 months of treatment, often featuring a signature ugly Christmas sweater. Since then, he has helped raise over $3 million for SickKids through a combination of personal donations and his promotional efforts to encourage others to donate.
A few weeks after Reynolds’ appearance at the committee, Cobourg council voted to approve the request to rename Pond Arena.
“The Town of Cobourg is proud to rename the arena in honour of Grace Bowen,” said Mayor Lucas Cleveland.
“Her legacy will live on in this space as young athletes come together to play and celebrate the sport she loved.”
The renaming ceremony at the Cobourg Community Centre (750 D’Arcy Street) will take place from 10 to 10:30 a.m. featuring emcee Trudy Stacey of the West Northumberland Girls Hockey Association, with a livestream of the ceremony displayed on the Bowl Arena’s score clock.
A craft table for kids will be available in the Grand Hall at 10:30 a.m., followed by a half-hour scrimmage game with Grace’s teammates starting at 11 a.m., when the Bowen family will drop the puck. The game will be followed at 11:30 a.m. with a free one-hour public skate in the newly renamed Grace Bowen Arena.
While the Town of Cobourg hasn’t confirmed whether Reynolds will make an appearance, in April he said that he would like to come to Cobourg to take part in any renaming ceremony.
