Good news for Wicker Park residents: your very own ice skating rink is coming, and it’s coming soon.
The project, titled Wicker ICE opens to the public on December 5th (or whenever weather permits). Skating will be completely free to the public, and the rink will be located just east of the fountain in the park, at 1425 N Damen Ave.
The ice itself has no refrigerated cooling system, so the skating surface will be completely dependent on the weather. In a city like Chicago though, cold weather isn’t usually that hard to come by. The rink will be open daily from 9 am to 8 pm, and the plan is to keep it open until early March.
The rink will be installed and maintained by the Chicago Park District. The size? 120 feet long by 60 feet wide, featuring four-foot walls on all sides. A full schedule will be released soon, but there will be planned times for family skating, adult skating, pickup hockey games, and children skating.
You can thank the Wicker Park Advisory Council for this one, as the group has been pushing the ice skating rink initiative in the area for quite some time. They’ve held fundraisers with local businesses, worked together with Alderman Joe Moreno & Brian Hopkins, and started a GroupMe page that led to the majority of the funds.
Still, this project is funded almost completely by the GoFundMe campaign, which raised enough funds for the installation. While the rink is meant to be self-sufficient for the most part, volunteer help is always welcomed and needed. You can donate additional funds to their GoFundMe page or email WickerICE@Gmail.com to find out how you can help in other ways.