By the numbers
$8.5 million: Cost to build the downtown NTPRD Chiller Ice Arena.
100,000: Estimated number of people who visited the ice arena during its first year, according to Chiller management.
20,000: Estimated number of people who participated in public skating sessions.
Staying with the story
The Springfield News-Sun has written extensively about the NTPRD Chiller ice arena since plans for the rink were first introduced several years ago.
Chiller one-year anniversary celebration
When: 12:30 to 4:30 p.m. Saturday
What: Public skating and free skating lessons, 1:30 to 3:30 p.m.; Pumpkin painting, 12:30 to 4:30 p.m.; games, food special, free cookie decorating.
Cost: $6 for adults, $5 for students, $4 for ages 4 and younger, $2 for skate rental. Patrons who donate food items to the Second Harvest Food Bank will receive free skate rental.
For more information, log on to NTPRDchiller.com.
More than 100,000 people have visited the $8.5 million National Trail Parks and Recreation District Chiller ice arena since it opened last year.
The downtown ice rink — the last piece of a 13-year, $17 million capital campaign to improve parks in Clark County — will mark its one-year anniversary on Saturday.
The rink didn’t meet its first year financial goals, but that was expected due to start up costs, the management company said.
The arena, 301 W. Main St., was paid for through both private donations and public money as part of the campaign, which also included Carleton Davidson Stadium, Splash Zone Family Aquatic Center, and improvements to Veterans Park Amphitheater and other smaller parks around the county.
Last year National Trail signed a management contract with the Chiller, which is owned by the Columbus Blue Jackets and operates five ice rinks in Central Ohio, to run the daily operations at the new arena in Springfield.
The response from the community has been positive, said Jeremy Rogers, Chiller assistant general manager.
The rink saw about 20,000 visitors for public skating sessions, as well as more than 830 participants in skating and hockey classes. The remaining attendants came from private rentals, large events and hockey leagues and tournaments, such as more than 200 birthday parties and the Silver Skates Figure Skating competition.
“There were lots of comments about how nice it was to have something in the area for youth to do, that there weren’t enough options before,” Rogers said.
The community is lucky to have an organization like the Chiller in Springfield, said National Trail Director Leann Castillo.
“They can offer something that we could never offer,” she said. “They have the experience and expertise running these programs.”
The first year fell short of the Chiller’s overall financial projections, but the group was encouraged by some areas that exceeded expectations, General Manager Wendy Herb said.
The private company doesn’t have to disclose financial numbers to the parks district, Castillo said, and the Chiller carries the loss.
“An initial loss came as no surprise to us and is to be expected during the first five to 10 years of a rink’s operations,” Herb wrote in an e-mail to the Springfield News-Sun. “The business is expensive to start up and operate, and it takes a while to introduce a community to what we do and to grow enrollments and participation after that introduction.”
The rink should see a surge in out-of-town teams scheduling ice time in Springfield this year, Rogers said, because most of the hockey schedules were set before the rink opened last year.
“They feel like it’s a nice, easy location to get to,” he said.
Combined with plenty of existing programming for the local community, such as lessons, open skate sessions and local youth and adult hockey, Rogers said the schedule is filling up quickly.
The Springfield Youth Hockey League was also created this year, which will generate more interest in the sport locally, Rogers said. The two house recreational teams will begin practice Nov. 2. They hope to hold their first home games on Nov. 29 during the Holiday in the City celebration.
“We’re right where we want to be,” Rogers said. “We have good coaches in place.”
The team is working with different Ohio associations for home-and-home dates and seeking to play teams from Columbus, Easton, Athens and Dayton among others.
Ice rink usage across the country is seasonal, Rogers said. It’s the established off-season programs — hockey schools, camps, training and spring and summer leagues — that allow arenas to get through the slow warm weather months.
Those programs haven’t been in place long enough to thrive in Springfield, he said.
“It’s going to take us a few years to build it to where we get through the lean months without a problem,” Rogers said.
Cedarville resident Dana Dunstan and her children, Regan, 10, and Caden, 6, were skating at the Chiller on Wednesday afternoon.
The family didn’t skate regularly until the Chiller opened last year, Dunstan said. Regan is participating in figure skating, while Caden will begin playing hockey next month.
“It’s an easy commute and we really enjoy it,” Dunstan said. “We love it. Everybody here is really nice. We’ve met a lot of new friends.”
Springfielder Kristina Ahlstrom and her daughter, Madalyn, 11, come skating almost every day. They’ve bought quarterly passes since it opened and Madalyn has participated in several classes, Ahlstrom said.
“We feel it’s like practicing an instrument,” she said. “We can come in for 30 minutes. It’s 10 minutes away from us. We love it.”
The rink is an asset for Springfield, she said.
“I’d like to see it continue to thrive,” Ahlstrom said.
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