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Rather than furnish the J&G Homes Arena restaurant with a bunch of generic, factory-bought tables, the higher-ups opted to populate the Kings Kitchen with a bunch of custom creations instead, hoping to distinguish the new sports facility from the rest of the pack.
This collection of more than 10 tables, which includes a steel unit and a 30-foot wooden bar top that sits rinkside, was built by longtime friends Curtis Loewen and Justin Boisvert, who specialize in metal fabrication and wood working, respectively.
After Boisvert posted online images of some newly acquired maple slabs last fall, J&G CEO and Brandon Wheat Kings owner Jared Jacobson became interested in seeing what the artisan could whip up using that material.Matt Goerzen/The Brandon Sun Curtis Loewen, of BKF Metal Art and Fabrication (left), and Justin Boisvert, of Dead Oak Designs, sit at one of the many tables they created for the Kings Kitchen ice-side restaurant in the newly built J&G Homes Arena, located at 34th Street and Patricia Avenue.
Boisvert then recruited Loewen to help him complete the task, since the pair have collaborated many times before and know how to divide the labour on this kind of project.
“I did the tops and the epoxies, and he worked on the steel and the frames,” Boisvert told the Sun on Wednesday. “And then when I had the epoxy done, he brought the legs over and finished them off and took them in.”
While the process was long and difficult, the pair were happy with the end result, especially since they were able to install some of these custom tables in time for the arena’s soft opening last December.Matt Goerzen/The Brandon Sun Loewen and Boisvert pose next to one of the many tables they created for the Kings Kitchen ice-side restaurant in the newly built J&G Homes Arena, located at 34th Street and Patricia Avenue.
“It looks amazing in there. It’s very cool. There’s definitely nothing like it around here,” Loewen said. “We kind of went above and beyond so that [the arena] could get more recognition.”
Equally impressed by the team’s craftsmanship is Kim Chegus, who said the sight of the tables was a breath of fresh air when she took over as the restaurant’s kitchen manager in May.
“They just put so much care and love into them,” she said. “They branded each table with the Kings Kitchen logo. They just really made it all come together.”
Chegus said she also believes that the custom furniture perfectly lines up with the outside-the-box approach the staff is taking with the J&G Homes Arena, since the 42,985-square-foot building provides a lot of different amenities outside of its main ice rink and adjoining restaurant.
The extra facilities include mini ice rinks, a 100-metre running track, classroom space for the Western Canada Hockey Academy and outdoor basketball, volleyball and pickleball courts.
“This is kind of a one-of-a-kind place that we have there,” Chegus said. “The tables and the chairs kind of tie into everything else that we’re going for.”
Moving forward, Boisvert and Loewen are perfectly willing to work with the J&G Homes Arena staff on additional projects, with the facility still looking to distinguish itself in the constantly busy athletic development scene here in Westman.
“There was talk of me doing a huge 3D sculpture for the logo of the hockey academy,” Loewen said. “[Jacobson] wanted that logo turned into a six-foot, double-headed wolf sculpture. But I haven’t heard if we’re going ahead with that or not.”
Loewen runs his own business, Bloody Knuckles Forge Metal Art and Fabrication, out of CFB Shilo, whereas Boisvert’s wood shop, Dead Oak Designs, is located just north of Justice.
The J&G Homes Arena is located at the corner of Patricia Avenue and 34th Street in the Rural Municipality of Cornwallis.