Last year, the city of Tampa erected an ice skating rink in the middle of Curtis-Hixon Waterfront Park. Since Florida is a tropical climate, natural ice skating rinks are not to be found.
However, the fun of ice skating can still be found! Due to popular demand, the ice-skating rink is back. With skates included in the entrance fee, just walk in, grab some skates and shred some ice.
Now through Jan.1, anyone can have a chance to show off their figure skating skills or just glide around the rink.
With the rink being under a covered tent, there’s plenty of room for everyone and along with a scenic view of downtown. Kitty Lyons, together with Friends of Tampa Recreation, which is sponsoring the rink, said that she hopes the chance to ice skate in Florida is as popular as last year.
“We had 23,000 skaters last year over six weeks,” she said in a TBO.com interview, “and this year, we have extended it to seven weeks.”
Since outdoor ice skating rinks are difficult to come by and not easy to maintain in Florida, it takes a great deal to get the rink ready. The company that came back from last year, Ice Rink Events, knows exactly what to do.
They have permanent ice-areas to temporary or seasonal ice rinks that can be seen on their website icerinkevents.com. They offer destination ice rinks as well. On-lookers can take pictures and talk to those skating by on the ice. They serve plenty of refreshments, including the seasonal favorite, hot chocolate.
The price of admission is $10 per skater for 90 minutes on the ice, and this includes the skate rental. There are also special rates for groups over 20. Monday through Thursday the rink is open 4-9 p.m., 4-10 p.m. on Fridays, 10 a.m.-10 p.m. on Saturdays and noon-9 p.m. on Sundays. In town for Thanksgiving or Winter Break and don’t know what to do? Head over to the rink! It is closed on Thanksgiving, but open Christmas Eve, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. and Christmas Day, 9 a.m.-4 pm.
Laurel Sanchez can be reached at lsanchez@spartans.ut.edu.