Modesto on Ice back for second season

Modesto’s outdoor ice rink is just 18 days away from opening for its second season after its first one drew more than 50,000 people to downtown for family-friendly fun.

Modesto on Ice started work Tuesday on setting up the seasonal ice rink, with workers erecting the frame for the rink’s tent. The goal is to have the rink finished by Nov. 17 and open to the public Nov. 19. The season runs through Jan. 22. The roughly 70-by-120-foot rink will be in the city parking lot at 11th and K streets, near Modesto Centre Plaza.

The official name is Modesto on Ice Presented by Modesto Subaru.

The rink drew about 37,500 skaters in its inaugural season, said Jerome Murray, who owns the business with his wife, Andrea, and partner Troy Acor. But Murray said those skaters drew about 18,000 family members and friends who came to watch.

Jerome Murray expects the rink will draw 40,000 skaters in its second season.

“It really helped,” Downtown Improvement District Director Nancy Young said about the rink’s first season. “The businesses say people came into their places. I know people came down, had dinner and then went before or after (to the rink). It was really obvious.”

Andrea Murray said during the first season she heard from plenty of skaters who were Modesto residents but were discovering downtown for the first time. “We did speak to skaters who had never been downtown,” she said. “We were really happy with our choice to be downtown.”

Modesto on Ice has new features for its second season, including discount skating on Tuesdays, hockey and figure skating lessons on Saturday and Sunday mornings and pickup hockey games 8:30 to 10 p.m. on Mondays. Modesto on Ice also will host fundraisers with 20 percent of the ticket sales going to the organization. For instance, it is hosting a Dec. 1 fundraiser for the Boys & Girls Club of Stanislaus County.

Andrea Murray said Modesto on Ice also will have a New Year’s Eve celebration, which will include fog machines, disco ball, disc jockey and a balloon drop at midnight.

This is not the only option for local ice skaters. A seasonal rink has operated in Turlock for three years at R.A.M. Farms on Daubenberger Road at Canal Drive. Its fourth season starts Nov. 18 and runs through Jan. 16.

Modesto on Ice signed a four-year contract last year with the city for the use of the parking lot. Modesto on Ice upgraded the electrical system at Centre Plaza in exchange for the use of the lot. The contract says the upgrade costs $20,000 and is owned by the city, and that the plaza can use it when it’s not used by the ice rink.

This story was originally published November 1, 2016 at 5:30 PM with the headline "Modesto on Ice back for second season."