APPLETON, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – Outdoor ice skating is on hold at Jones Park and other outdoor ice skating rinks in Appleton.
Jones Park reopened last summer for the first time in three years. This is the first chance people would have had to skate there.
Appleton Parks and Recreation aims to have people skating on the ice before Christmas, but that didn’t happen this year.
“We did have a good start but then as you know it warmed up, we got some rain and pretty much negated all the progress we had made,” Appleton Grounds Manager Greg Hoekstrah said.
A Florida couple visiting family is disappointed.
“It’s my one chance to experience the cold,” Miami native Zach Bartholomew said.
For them, ice skating rekindles memories they’ll never forget.
Hoekstrah tells FOX 11 it doesn’t take long to set an ice rink up.
“We’ll keep trying here for the rest of this month. Once it starts getting into February, if we do get some cold weather maybe Jones, Pierce, we’ll try to go in, Erb.”
But he says the city needs at least a week of cold weather.
“I think some people see some cities maybe have systems with coils in the ground and stuff like that. So we do answer a lot of calls explaining to people why we don’t have ice yet.”
Only Mother Nature can make the ultimate call.
