40u40: The bandits of the Worcester ice rink

Erika Sidor At the Fidelity Bank Worcester Ice Center are 40 Under Forty winners (from left) Giselle Rivera-Flores, Elizabeth Tripp, Neil Callahan and Justin Dufresne.

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By Brad Kane

This is the fifth in a series of 11 stories describing the photos behind this year's 40 Under Forty awards, where rather than shooting all the images in one location, WBJ took the winners to 11 properties around Worcester, showcasing the new developments of a city on the rise. Check out the first four parts: Burns Bridge, public murals, deadhorse hill, The Edge at Union Station.

The photo shoot at the Fidelity Bank Worcester Ice Center was almost over before it started.

Despite getting assurances from the developer we could take photos at the new recreational sports center under construction in the Canal District, on the day we showed up, a foreman for the contractor pulled up in his truck and told the four winners (Giselle Rivera-Flores, Elizabeth Tripp, Neil Callahan and Justin Dufresne) and photographer Erika Sidor they would not be allowed to go inside.

Then, he drove away.

I arrived at the ice center after this scene, immediately flustered over the brusque way the winners had been treated and upset the permission and follow-up confirmation from the developer had not been communicated to the contractor. I wanted to speak with the foreman, but when Sidor told me he had left, it became abundantly clear: No one could stop us from just walking in the building.

Since both Callahan and Dufresne are executives with construction contractors, I wanted to make sure they were OK with us breaking the rules to get the photos we wanted to take. Since Callahan had already spotted a handful of safety violations already on the site (the two workers who were there were wearing shorts, for example), he didn’t think it would be a problem to walk into an unoccupied part of the building.

So, we did.

Despite the drama at the beginning, the photo shoot was pretty low key afterward. We walked onto one of the two rinks to be the home of the practice sessions for the Worcester Railers minor league hockey team, using creative lighting in the dark room. We took some photos in another under construction section of the building, attempting to symbolize how the new Worcester is still under development.

- Brad Kane, editor