Asheville News

Ice skating at Asheville Civic Center on thin ice

Jason Sandford January 10, 2008

Jason Sandford

Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.

Nobody seems to have noticed the shortened ice skating season this year at the Asheville Civic Center.

Over the past several years, residents have been treated to several weeks of ice skating inside the Civic Center, which started offering public ice skating way back when this town had a hockey team. The hockey team went away, but ice skating was such a hit that the city has continued to offer it each winter.

This year, though, the ice skating season lasted about two weeks. That, and rumors that the city was looking to sell its equipment related to ice making, have people wondering about the future of ice in Asheville.

A city official says somebody had been interested in Asheville’s ice equipment, but didn’t buy in the end. And city officials for years have complained about the expense and complexity of setting up and providing the ice for public ice skating. It can conflict with trade shows, it’s difficult to maintain, etc.

In the end, there’s no guarantee that the ice will be back next year, according to the city.

But people clearly love it. So what’s the solution? A privately run rink? Bring back hockey? How ’bout we go back to E.W. Grove’s vision of a public ice skating rink on the roof of the Grove Arcade.

Thanks to loyal reader Rebecca for the tip!

Jason Sandford

Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.

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4 Comments

edtomfish January 12, 2008

I believe the "Civic Center" is somewhat its own department/division w/in the city.

Something else that few people outside of what I would call ‘the asheville hockey community’ (check out http://www.ashevillehockey.org) know about is that each year when the ice is put up, not only is it used for public skating, but its used for recreation hockey by both adults and youths. the time we have to use the ice for rec hockey has been dwindling year by year as well. we usually never know if we’ll even be playing until just weeks before the ice goes up.

there are what i would call 3 main problems with ice at the civic center:

1) other events and shows are scheduled during times when the ice is up. lowering and raising the boards for each of these is costly.

2) the cooling equipment, boards and zamboni are old. this ends up costing the cc even more money when problems arise.

3) this one is purely my opinion but i pose it as a question: Why would the Civic Center WANT to have the ice up? At the end of the day the employees get paid regardless of what goes on there, why would they want to do more work? (especially when there is currently no director).

for years now, many people in the hockey community have complained about not having any type of perm ice rink. we are limited to playing about 10 sessions over a 2 month period at the civic center and must be content with playing inline hockey at Carrier park in the spring and fall. they’ve talked to private parties, they’ve talked to the city and for various reasons we’re still with no perm ice in asheville. i recommend those interested in ice-skating, hockey, figure skating and even curling to contact asheville parks and rec and city council to voice your interest.

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Bill in Ash Vegas January 12, 2008

What is going on in this town?
Parades, fireworks, parties, ice skating are all "going away?"
Funny that we keep getting put on all the top 10 lists, but things are not getting better.

Go figure.

Reply
Ash January 10, 2008

Rebecca, i just talked to the official that oversees the civic center. the position of "civic center director" is currently not filled.

budget wise, i didn’t ask, but i assume ice is a money-losing venture for the city.

in the end, i think you need Asheville City Council’s support to keep ice coming back.

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Rebecca January 10, 2008

What city dept. deals with this Ash? We’re wondering about the budget — do they lose money, or is it just a pain in the neck for them, or both…??? It is one of the few winter activities that the kids LOVE and is not TV or video games, and is also great exercise. What needs to happen to support it, does anyone know? I emailed some of my pals who take their kids and love it… maybe Mountain Xpress could follow up too. Thanks Ash for looking into this.

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