Ice rink coming to downtown Carson City

Carson City will get a winter ice rink downtown that the city hopes will be popular enough to pay for itself.

The 56-by-85-foot seasonal rink will be built by Ice Rink Events across from the Carson Nugget at the corner of North Carson and Spear streets.

The $134,000 project will open Dec. 4 through the middle of February and be paid for by the Carson Nugget and the city, though organizers hope it can raise enough in tickets to pay the city's half of the costs.

The rink will be popular with residents and visitors, said Deputy Economic Development Manager Tammy Westergard, and work on the rink will start in about a week.

People will be able to skate for two hours for $7, or $5 for children and seniors. The rink can hold 178 people, she said, and it can be rented for private use.

"We've talked about an ice rink in Carson City for 30 years," said Joe McCarthy, economic development manager.

An idea to put in a rink at the Pony Express Pavilion fell through because of arguments, said Mayor Marv Teixeira, and a project to build a rink in Mills Park was poorly managed.

This rink downtown, however, will be successful and popular, he said.

"Wouldn't it be great for Carson City in the wintertime to have a parking problem?" he asked.

Susan Burns of the Sierra Nevada Figure Skating Club said what the city really needs is a permanent rink, but she's excited for the new one.

"We need anything to skate," she said.

Both she and John Procaccini, director of the Brewery Arts Center, said they were considering hosting an opening day ice show.

But Lynn Remick of Carson City said they will not be able to get a show because the ice rink isn't standard size.

She said she has two children who are figure skaters and is disappointed they still will have to go to South Lake Tahoe to practice.

Ice Rink Events is the largest U.S. business that operates seasonal ice rinks, according to the company. It has installed ice rinks for the Salt Lake Winter Olympics, New York and San Jose, Calif.

Dave Fies, an Ice Rink Events project manager, has said the company installs an ice rink by putting a cooling tube on a flat surface that looks like a "giant sandbox" and then filling that space with water.