Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Rink readiness
Bentonville kicks off holiday skating season.
BENTONVILLE — It’s going to look a lot like Christmas today when thousands of holiday lights are turned on throughout the downtown square and the Rink at Lawrence Plaza opens for the skating season.
The rink, on the corner of Northeast A and Blake streets, is set to open at noon with free skating sessions until 6 p.m., when the lights on the square will be lit. Downtown Bentonville Inc. hosts the annual celebration, kicking off the holiday season.
The Parks and Recreation Department will host the Community Christmas Tree lighting at Lawrence Plaza after the lighting of the square. The Arkansas Figure Skating Association will perform before the rink opens to the
public at 8 p.m.
Warm weather melted the ice during last year’s opening day at the rink, but this year’s forecast looks to be more favorable with a high of 60 degrees, partly cloudy and a 10 percent chance of precipitation, according to the Weather Channel website.
“It looks like we’ll actually have ice on opening day,” said David Wright, parks and recreation director.
This will be the rink’s ninth season. It traditionally opens the Saturday before Thanksgiving Day and runs through Martin Luther King Jr. Day in January.
It’s common for weather to close the rink for a few days each season.
It’s not the warm day temperatures Wright worries about. It’s the night temperatures, he said.
The night temperatures have to drop below 45 degrees for ice to be built two to three inches each night. There’s not going to be any ice in the day if it’s too warm to create it at night, Wright said.
Wright compared losing ice to canceling a baseball game because of rain. It happens, he said.
The Old Farmer’s Almanac has predicted this winter season will be warmer than normal and the coldest periods will be in late November, the first half of December, early January and early February.
Throughout this skating season, Parks and Recreation will partner with the Figure Skating Association to offer skating lessons, Frosty Flix and Skate-A-Long with different movie characters.
Evening skates will cost $5 with a skate rental and $3 for those who use their own skates.
Children will again have
the opportunity to write a letter to Santa Claus. Santa will send a letter back before Christmas to those who drop the notes in the Letters to Santa House at the plaza before Dec. 12 and include a return address.
Wright said he was skeptical when an outdoor ice rink was proposed years ago. But what he’s seen is the facility is more than an ice rink.
“It’s an amenity that provides economic development, tourism and a sense of place for our residents,” he said.
There were 13,817 skaters who participated in the various programs at the rink last year, according to Lee Farmer, recreation services manager.
That surpasses the 20162017 record-setting season of 12,700 skaters.
Throughout this skating season, Parks and Recreation will partner with the Figure Skating Association to offer skating lessons, Frosty Flix and SkateA-Long with different movie characters.