Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
ANDY WARREN pours water on a freshly shoveled path to form an ice-skating rink at the Ironwood's Downtown City Square, as Dan Finco, right, and Carl Jensen, left, shovel the slush off of the path, on Monday afternoon. The Ice-skating rink will open for First Friday on Feb. 4.
By CHARITY SMITH
Ironwood - Nearly 20 volunteers worked Monday afternoon to shovel out a circular path in Ironwood's snow-filled Downtown City Square to make way for an ice-skating path in time for First Friday.
"It was made for this, so we're going to try it out," said city commissioner David Andresen. "Hopefully, have it ready by First Friday if the weather helps us out here. We're all kind of new to this and just getting together to try and make something nice for the community and something different to do."
As some finished shoveling, additional volunteers began to pour water on the path. According to Andresen they couldn't make the rink last year as the concrete hadn't set long enough.
The rink will now be formed annually, but can't be formed until after the Sisu Ski Fest, as the festival ends at the park. However, he said once they form the rink, it will be available for the public to use as long as weather permits. He said the city has volunteers who are willing to help maintain the rink, as well.
"It's a good community project," said Ivan Helen of Erwin Township. "I think a lot of people will benefit from this. Especially the young ones. Kids, they enjoy the park in the summer and now they can have it functional year-round. Winter's far from over. I mean we got cross country skiing, snowshoeing, snowmobiling, and now we'll have skating."
Marianne Andresen said that she envisions people packed on benches by the rink and the fire pit, with their coffee cups in hand. "It's just going to be amazing," she said.
Volunteers worked from 1 to 3 p.m. on Monday and were able to get a coat of water down to start the ice surface. Andresen said they had to stop in order to allow time for the water to freeze. He said that they plan to lay at least three additional layers before the rink opens on Friday evening.
"It's looking pretty good now," he said.
The rink will be open and free to the public anytime, but the gas to the fire pit is lit on an as needed basis. David Andresen said that if a group wants the fire pit to be turned on, they simply have to call the city and it will be turned on for them.
