One Stanislaus County seasonal ice rink closed due to COVID, but another plans to open
Modesto On Ice — the popular outdoor ice skating rink in downtown — will not open this season because of the new coronavirus pandemic and uncertainty from the state over its reopening guidance.
Owners Dave and Kathy Halsey issued a news release stating the ice rink would not have its normal run of mid November through mid January.
“We held out making this difficult decision as long as possible, hoping the impacts of COVID-19 (the disease caused by the new coronavirus) would get much better, and we’d get some clear guidelines from the state that would allow us to at the very least have a modified season. Neither came to fruition,” Kathy Halsey said in the release.
Halsey said California is allowing ice rinks to open but at 50 percent capacity under its yellow or least restrictive tier for reopening the economy. Stanislaus County is not in that tier. The county recently moved from the purple or most restrictive of the four tiers to the red or third tier because of declines in the incidence of the virus.
But Fields of Ice at R.A.M. Farms in Turlock plans to operate from mid November through mid January for its eighth season.
Owner Ron Macedo said the rink will take such precautions as encouraging people to wear masks and practice physical distancing as well as offering hand sanitizer. He also is reducing skating sessions from 2 hours to 90 minutes and the number of skaters per session from a maximum of 225 to 160 to 175 on the 9,600-square-foot rink.
Macedo said R.A.M. Farms has had good experience with its corn maze this season by taking similar precautions, including eliminating high risk activities such as movies under the stars and its scary shed attraction.
Macedo said he was not aware ice skating rinks are allowed to operate only under the yellow tier but plans on doing more research.
“We don’t want to be the people who spread it,” he said, “and we don’t think we are. ... But you want to save your business and (respond to) a community need.”
Halsey said she started trying to get answers from the state in July about how Modesto On Ice could operate. She said county and city officials helped her.
Rink brings thousands downtown
Halsey said the best answer from the state is that ice skating rinks are allowed to operate at 50 percent capacity in the yellow tier. The state considers the spread of the disease minimal at that tier. The disease was considered widespread in Stanislaus County when it was in the purple tier and is now considered substantial in the red tier.
“We’ve spent months trying to get specific guidance on how to run an ice rink,” Halsey said. “... I understand we are in public health crisis, but it is difficult to get clear answers from the state.”
This would have been Modesto On Ice’s sixth season. It’s been hugely popular, drawing tens of thousands of skaters, as well as friends and family who come to watch, to downtown over the holidays. Macedo said Fields of Ice attracts about 30,000 skaters in a season, and that does not include friends and family.
This also would have been the Halseys’ first season. They bought the rink from Jerome and Andrea Murray, who opened the rink in 2015. The Murrays have relocated to Idaho.
“Our goal is to have the best, most magical season next year,” Kathy Halsey said.
This story was originally published October 20, 2020 at 4:00 AM.
