Liberty Township: Winter Touch-a-Truck, open skate planned at temporary ice-skating rink

Not all the ice in Liberty Township is hazardous to drivers and pedestrians.

For the past several weeks, the township has operated a temporary ice-skating rink inside Liberty Park, 2845 Home Road. The rink has been popular with residents when weather permits, township park supervisor Michael Landon said.

The township will hold an open skate and Winter Touch-a-Truck event from noon to 2 p.m. Feb. 19 at the rink, weather permitting, township Trustee Shyra Eichhorn said. Township vehicles will be on hand, and refreshments will be served.

“It’s ‘open skate’ anyway during the day, but we wanted to try and see if we could encourage even more residents to enjoy our parks in the winter time,” she said.

Township trustees approved up to $8,500 for the purchase in December, and installation began after the rink was shipped in January. Setup took about four hours, Landon said.

“Not bad considering we’ve never done anything like this before,” he said.

Temperatures were too high at first, but “since it froze, we’ve been able to leave it open,” Landon said. “I wouldn’t say it’s been super-busy, but most times there is at least someone out there. As long as it’s cold, it’s a great thing.”

“This ice rink provides a fun way for the community to continue to enjoy our parks throughout the winter,” township administrator Mike Schuiling said.

“We have had overwhelmingly positive feedback,” Eichhorn said.

The township’s parks staff maintains the rink, which relies on nature to freeze the water. The rink is a simple framed plastic liner surrounded by boards, Landon said. It has no refrigeration or mechanism to keep the surface cool beyond nature's low temperatures.

Staffers, when possible, keep the rink free of snow and add water when necessary to improve the ice conditions, but use of the rink is not supervised by the township and is considered “skate at your own risk,” he said.

The rink is open during normal park hours, from 7:30 a.m. to dusk, he said. Ice hockey and similar organized activities are not permitted.

Schuiling said the township held a skate night in late January, an after-hours event with open skating and refreshments sold by a local Cub Scouts group.

After this skating season, the rink will be stored for use again next winter, Landon said. The liners are typically good for about three years, he said, and the frame for much longer.

Eichhorn said the township has discussed how to enhance the skating experience for residents next year. One thing the township has heard from residents is the desire for skate rentals. Eichhorn said the possibility is being investigated and might be implemented this year, but almost certainly there will be some form of rental opportunity next year.

“We have been wanting to balance our need to have manpower to operate the rink against having as many people as possible enjoy it,” she said. “We do think it’s possible (to do rentals). We decided to do this a little bit late in the season this year just to see how it would go, and with the positive response, we’ll work on ways to continue to make it better.”

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This article originally appeared on ThisWeek: Liberty Township: Winter Touch-a-Truck, open skate planned at ice rink