Ice rink gone, but city plans bigger version next winter
Civic Plaza is a little emptier this week.
The small, synthetic ice rink set up just after Christmas is now gone, after the number of skaters fell off once school started again, city officials said. It was drawing only two or three skaters a day at the end.
Gilbert Montaño, the mayor’s chief of staff, said the city plans to bring back a bigger, better version of the rink next winter.
“We’re going to do it right,” he said. “We want to make it a big deal.”
Montaño envisions a big Christmas tree and a rink close to the size of the one at Rockefeller Center in New York, which is 122 feet by 59 feet. Albuquerque’s rink was 30 feet long, 20 feet wide.
About 1,100 skaters visited the synthetic ice rink during the 29 days it was up at Civic Plaza. It cost the city about $5,000 for the materials.
“We started off small. We had some great success,” Montaño said. “Now, it’s time for us to expand.”
This year’s ice rink came from the New Mexico BioPark Society, a nonprofit group that supports the zoo and aquarium. The society wasn’t using the rink and loaned it to the city. It was assembled on Civic Plaza the week of Christmas.
An earlier plan to have a small rink up by Christmas Day fell through. That rink was to come from Isleta Pueblo.
Real ice isn’t an option because of Albuquerque’s climate. The Civic Plaza rink was “synthetic ice,” with a surface designed to mimic the feel of ice skating. Customers use regular ice skates.
Mayor Richard Berry “wanted to try something new, something exciting,” Montaño said. “We had a great turnout” before school started again.