Bill Matthews smooths the surface at the Ice on the Landing skating rink at Ross’s Landing in this file photo.Mike Hensel worked in his shirt-sleeves Sunday, sawing hunks of thick ice apart and tossing them aside to melt in the unseasonably warm day.
After that, he and his helper would take down the rink and equipment for Ice on the Landing, the wildly popular outdoor ice skating rink that helped Chattanoogans celebrate the holiday season in style.
The rink opened Nov. 28 and drew 30,000 skaters, not including spectators. It was so popular it was held over from Jan. 4 to Feb. 1. Today, the only sign left on the Chattanooga Green should be waterlogged grass that will have to be resodded.
But good news is, the outdoor skating rink is coming back next holiday season, said Carla Pritchard, owner of Chattanooga Presents, which sponsored the event with Volkswagen Chattanooga.
The enthusiastic participation for Ice on the Landing surprised organizers, Pritchard said. It had been more than a decade since Chattanooga had an ice-skating rink.
“Chattanooga was just ready,” she said. “By any measure it was a success.”
The rink supported the city in making the riverfront a downtown destination.
Riverfront businesses reported increased visitation and sales, she said, and organizers are already thinking about improvements for next year based on this year’s experience.
The small rink was 50 feet by 70 feet but drew a crowd larger than some cities with bigger rinks, Pritchard said.
Because of participation this year, next year’s rink will be bigger, 60 feet by 120, said Hensel, project supervisor for Orlando, Fla.-based Magic Ice USA.
Hensel said he has installed rinks in nearly every state except Alaska. He has even had rinks in Canada and Mexico, he said.
Ice on the Landing was the only ice-skating rink in Chattanooga since a rink operated inside Eastgate Town Center from 1999 until 2002.
The Chattanooga Choo Choo once had an ice-skating rink in the same building that now holds Track 29, but it closed in the early 1980s. A small rink operated for a short time in the ’90s in what is now First Tennessee Pavilion, where the Chattanooga Market is held.
Contact staff writer YolandaPutman at yputman@timesfreepress.com or 757-6431.