"You stick it out and it will turn out to be one of the best jobs in the country."

This advice, received from his parents and from Doug Birks, his former boss at the Sicamous and District Recreation Centre, was on the money for Cal Franson.

"Boy, they were right, has it ever," said Franson who, on Feb. 20, received special recognition from his employer, the Columbia Shuswap Regional District (CSRD). During the board meeting that day, several staff members were presented with employee service awards, marking their time with the CSRD.

Franson's 35-year award, for his work at the CSRD-owned recreation centre, made him the longest-serving staff member recognized that day. 

Of the lead hand in charge of arena operations, community and protective services general manager Derek Sutherland said, "as a person who had kids go through minor hockey, Cal’s arena is the cleanest I’ve ever seen – I’d eat off the floor of his ammonia plant." 

Franson is proud of the plant and the building as a whole. For him it's the heart of a community he's equally proud to call home. That said, the recognition caught him off guard. 

"I knew I was over 30 but I wasn’t paying that much attention to it. I know it had been a long time, through a lot of the days when the facility was still being run by a society. Then HR called me and congratulated me. It definitely caught me off guard."

Along with his family and Birks, Franson also credited former co-workers Bud Rokosh and Cyril Bens for his longevity at the rec centre. 

"A lot of those guys made all the difference for me," Franson said.

Franson's connection to the recreation centre runs deep. It's where he played hockey in his younger days, and where his and wife Karen's kids – Cody, Colbie and Cain – began their life journeys, Cain and Cody with hockey and Colbie with ice skating. Franson said Cain currently has a good career with Telus and also works for the 91´ó»ÆѼ Minor Hockey Association as a skills coach; ; and Cody recently signed a deal to work as an amateur pro scout with his former team, the Nashville Predators. 

"I couldn’t be happier and prouder of all three of them," said Franson, whose family remains close with the Weber family, including Franson's former co-worker James and Jame's Hockey Hall of Famer son, Shea, who last year gave a nod to Franson in his Hall of Fame induction speech. 

"It started for me in the small town of Sicamous, British Columbia, where a group of us would gather on Spruce Street almost every day," Shea said. "We were fortunate, we played a lot of road hockey, played on outdoor rinks and even had the ability to snag any extra ice time at the local arena from Cal Franson, Cyril Bens or Doug Birks."

These words hit hard for Franson, who has seen how important that "extra ice time" can be for young athletes. 

"I don’t think he’ll ever know how much that meant to me. It just makes him a class act all the way…" Franson said. "It’s nice to see they never ever forgot about it and I think it’s a great reputation for our facility to have, where any of these kids can get that extra ice time. It really meant something to them every time they got it." 

Other highlights for Franson from his 35 years at the rec centre include the numerous events and activities that have taken place there, from Moose Mouse Days to car shows, dances and many hockey tournaments. One particular day that stands out for him, though, is April 12, 2018, when he and other community members put on hockey jerseys and formed a large heat outside the arena, to show their "Hearts for Humboldt" and the 16 people who died when a semi collided with the Broncos team bus the week prior.

Caring for the arena's ice plant is a big part of Franson's job. In his earlier days at the arena, he, Bens and Rokosh would look after the preventative maintenance. However, standards changed dramatically following the tragic 2017 incident involving the Fernie Memorial Arena and an ammonia leak that lead to the deaths of three people. 

"I think we’ve got one of the best contractors with our plant that we can have – very trustworthy and very dependable…," Franson said. " After that unfortunate incident, everybody now has to be under a contractor, which I understand. These plants, they’re specifically designed for safety so for me personally, as the lead hand, I’m legally and fully responsible for the maintenance of it and the safety of it, and to make sure it’s where it needs to be 24-7, 365 a year. So I take a lot of pride in that."

Franson also takes a lot of pride in the quality of ice produced at the rink, and the overall cleanliness of the facility. 

"We’ve been give a lot of complements over the years, which I don’t think people realize a lot of times how much it means to us," Franson. 

Along with all the behind-the-scenes work at the arena, Franson also gets a lot of his own ice time at Sicamous Eagles games and other events as the person who runs the ice resurfacer, first a pair of Zambonis and, since 2007, an Olympia. 

"I will never be able to add up the laps I’ve made on that machine – it’s still enjoyable," Franson said. "I can see why the machine gets the attention it does from my grandkids to just people in general. When I’m still on the ice little ones run up to the glass and wave. It feels as good now as when I started. 

"I’m sure everybody I work with would say if they could just drive the machine all the time it would be great!"

Franson hopes to continue working at one of the best jobs in the country until his retirement. While it can be a challenge acquiring all the necessary certifications to do what he does, Franson has his own advice for anyone willing to put in the work. 

"Once you get the certifications, they’re like gold," Franson said. "It would be a great career for any young person to think of getting into."