Ice Skating

Madison has a long history with ice skating.  Our town has produced multiple Olympic Gold Medal speed skaters and hockey players, all who grew up skating on outside area rinks.  Years ago, nearly every neighborhood park had an outdoor ice rink.

In recent years, budget cuts and limited staff have made it more difficult to "flood" and maintain the outdoor ice rinks.  Many of the smaller parks no longer sport ice rinks during the winter months.

A few years ago, a group of neighbors approached the city about "building" an ice rink in their neighborhood park.  The neighbors would take all responsibility for the rink.  Everything from flooding and maintaining it to "policing" the sheet of ice.  The neighbors held fundraisers to build a water source for the rink, they secured donations to build the "watershed" and started an online schedule for neighbors to maintain the rink.  The result was one of the best ice rinks on the west side of Madison at Hillington Green.

Two years ago, dissatisfied with the city maintenance of another area ice rink, the neighbors around Westmorland did the same thing.  The neighborhood took over the hockey rink at Westmorland Park.  On any given night, you'll see young people scraping the ice down to remove the "snow" and adults wielding big hoses to "flood" the rink.

At both Hillington Green and at Westmorland, it is a few dedicated neighbors who make the outside ice skating possible for all.  It's a long, cold, thankless job.  But it builds community.  It builds camaraderie among neighbors.  And it provides outdoor ice for area kids and adults.

This year the weather has not cooperated with the building of an ice rink, but that hasn't stopped those dedicated volunteers.  Every night that the mercury dips below freezing, you'll find them out there working on the rink.  There may not be any future Olympians skating on these rinks, but the lessons the volunteers are teaching young people and the service they are providing for ice skaters is priceless!