The ice rink may close sooner than originally planned.
McMinnville Parks and Recreation director Justin Scott reported to the city Tourism and Development Board on Monday the sixth week numbers for McMinnville On Ice. “It wasn’t a very good weekend,” Scott told the board.
TDB member Christy Ross suggested the weather may have been a factor for the low numbers. Scott said, “Michael (Benusches) and I were talking, we think this weekend will really be a ‘where we stand’ weekend. The temperature’s going to drop, not any rain in the forecast. So, we’ll kind of see where we stand with that.”
Scott added, “We’ve had a really good run with the rink thus far, but this past weekend, we didn’t really break even on some of those days.” He said that it has been successful up until this past weekend.
TDB administrator Dayron Deaton-Owens asked, “Do you all have a game plan or an idea how we want to move forward?”
Scott answered, “Yes, we obviously want to take suggestions, but we looked at it as, this weekend, we will see how are numbers look.” The rink was originally planned to stay open through Feb. 5, and Scott said, “Maybe it’s run its course. We talked again today, when we were investigating these things, most of these communities were running their rinks for two weeks, but they were running it every day for two weeks.
“Maybe that’s what we do next year. Maybe we crank it up right after Dec. 1 and we run it two or three weeks in December, and we try to run as many days as we can with the staffing that we have and really pack it in. Once the new year comes, we’ll clean up and break it down and move on. That’s just a thought.”
Ross said, “I don’t think I dislike that thought.”
TDB chair Sarah Cantrell said, “This past weekend was our sixth weekend of operation, correct? So for us to not have hit a snag in attendance until the sixth weekend, I think is very telling of how successful the project has been and how successful you have operated it.”
Cantrell expressed that she was elated with the success of the rink and that each week, the number of patrons has exceeded her expectations. She added, “If we say we’re done and close it up, then next year, we adjust the calendar the opposite way, maybe open it up sooner. Once we get into January, folks aren’t going to be as interested in skating, maybe because the season is over. Then, that’s something we can do.”
Cantrell also expressed her support for using this weekend’s numbers to see whether the rink should close at its original date of Feb. 5 or prematurely shut down. Deaton-Owens also expressed her excitement with the weekly attendance saying it exceeded her expectations in the first five weeks.
As of now, the rink is still set to close on Feb. 5, but McMinnville Parks and Rec will provide updates as this weekend’s attendance is reviewed.
