Closed until cold: Twin Cities ice rinks melting away once more
ST. PAUL, Minn. — Laura Mays can see it happening from her front window. The rink she loves and works to maintain is melting away.
Mays, the president of the Langford Park Hockey Association, had prayed for a better year.
"It's a little bit of a puddle right now," Mays said. "It just breaks your heart."
Last winter was characterized by canceled events and virtually no skating – less than two weeks for the entire winter.
"You used to talk about how much snow there was, how cold it was, how crazy it was, now we stand in puddles," she said.
Langford Park's rink, along with every outdoor rink in St. Paul, Minneapolis and Bloomington were closed Friday. What should be the peak skating season, rinks filled with students on winter break, is reduced to drab and slushy.
It can take a toll on business.
"Ice skating is part of our fabric — our moral fabric," said Bart Pierce of Bloomington's Pierce Skate and Ski. "People grew up, they have these fond memories of these traditions going out and ice skating," Pierce says nearly 80 percent of his business relies on cold, snow and ice.
"We're kind of like farmers. You hope that you're going to get it. Last week was a bonanza with the snowfall," he said. "It's going to get cold again, and we hope we get some more snow."
