“Downtown On Ice” Makes Debut

Get your skates ready, the downtown Fargo ice rink is open for the season.

This is the first year the city has decided to open a rink in the downtown area.

There was a bit of a delay on the rink opening early in the month due to the mild weather.

But the long anticipated “Downtown on Ice” opens to the public this afternoon.

“We think it’s the most exciting thing ever. We’ve been waiting for months. We’ve been ready to go since 9 am this morning,” says Fargo woman, Deneen Gilmour.

Gilmour and her daughters waited hours before hitting the ice right when it opened at one.

Gilmour adds,”They were texting everyone they knew ‘It’s opening at one! It’s opening at one!’You know it reminded me of is of girls going gaga over the Beatles and they would call each other. They were going gaga crazy over this, they were so excited.”

Other families that arrived early also couldn’t wait to start cutting the ice.

“I think with the additions to the downtown, I think this is just another extra thing. It’s kind of like a mini New York. It’s really cool. You can see already how many people are here,” says Byron Sundbon from Fargo.

The 70 by 70 foot temporary rink takes up part of the parking lot located on Main and Broadway.

The rink is privately funded through donations.

Up to $40,000 were raised, which is double the cost of this structure.

“We thought it’ll be a great amenity. Obviously we have a lot of outdoor hockey rinks in the area but we don’t necessarily have a skating rink per se. Obviously the downtown growing so much, we have a lot of great activity and business out here,” says Fargo City Planner Derrick LaPoint.

Families and friends are all enjoying this new addition to the downtown area.

But as this location start to gain more traction, it might get a little crowded.

Gilmour expresses, “Well, I think it’s going to get crowded down here. It needs to be bigger, cause it’s so fun.”

The rink is said to hold up to 50 people.

Staff members are available during operating hours in the warming house.

If it gets too crowded, they will have to coordinate a plan to ensure that there aren’t too many people on the ice.

But so far, people like the new addition to town.

“I think they should do more of these things. I mean more things like this for families to have fun, for anybody really. It doesn’t matter what age you are, you can have fun here,” says Gilmour.

If the weather cooperates, the rink could stay open until March.

The Department of Planning and Development plans to have an official kick off celebration of the new rink on January 14th.

Operating hours:

Holidays/ Weekends 1-9 pm

Weekdays 5-9 pm