Ice Rink to Be Built at Civic Arts Plaza

The unaware will do a double take Thursday when they pass the Civic Arts Plaza.

Beginning Thanksgiving Day, the city will unveil its Winter Wonderland on Ice--a 40-by-60-foot open-air ice rink built on a 5-acre parcel next to the civic center.

The ice rink will be operated by the plaza’s fund-raising arm, the Alliance for the Arts. The organization hopes to recoup the $250,00 needed to set up and operate the rink and raise $100,000 to benefit year-round theater programs at the Civic Arts Plaza.

Mardy Medders, director of development and special events for the alliance, said the project is designed to bring residents together, giving them something special for the holidays. The rink will be open until Jan. 3.

“We want to welcome the wheelchair population, seniors, moms with little ones who are too little to skate--we’re trying to create an ambience, like a mini Central Park,” Medders said.

The man-made ice is created with a wooden stage and metal refrigeration plates. Workers install special coils connected to a large refrigeration unit, and freeze gallons and gallons of water that are sprayed onto the plates and frozen, one layer at a time, until they form a 2-inch-thick sheet of ice.

The rink will be open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sundays through Thursdays, and until 10 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. Admission will be $6 for adults, $3 for children 4 to 12 and free for those 3 and younger.