Skating rink to return to Port park this winter

Youngsters dreaming of gliding across the ice to fling a puck into the net or perform a perfect triple axel will soon have another place to hone their skills.

The walls of the rink are in place and the Port Washington Parks and Recreation Department is awaiting the arrival of the rink liner so it can make skaters’ dreams come true.

“It was very exciting to get it up, especially with Covid and the lack of activities right now,” Recreation Director Kiley Schulte said.

“This is an outdoor activity people can enjoy right now, which is especially important with the pandemic.”

Schulte said the department hasn’t installed the outdoor rink in roughly eight years, but added that it’s something she has wanted to do for a long time.

But the purchase of a new liner wasn’t in the city budget, so she obtained a sponsorship from Port Washington State Bank to pay for it.

She ordered the liner early this month and, while she was promised it would arrive quickly, it still isn’t here. She’s been calling every week to try and find out when it will be in Port.

In the meantime, before the ground froze, the department got the walls of the rink “out of storage and dusted them off and got them installed,” Schulte said.

Since then, she said, people have been asking when it will be open.

“It’s exciting that people are happy about using it,” Schulte said, noting that one reason the city stopped putting it up was that few people actually skated.

“Hopefully we’ll get people interested in ice skating and using it,” she said.

Schulte said the department will establish rules to keep everyone safe given the pandemic.

Although skating is an outdoor sport, masks will likely be required since it might be difficult to ensure social distancing, she said.

The department plans to open the shelter at Veterans Park, and sell hot chocolate and concessions, but there won’t be any skate rentals offered, Schulte said.

Once the liner arrives, Schulte said, it shouldn’t take long to fill and given the current weather it shouldn’t take long for the water to freeze.