Those from cold climates who lament the days of ice skating outdoors will have a chance to skate in Downtown San Diego starting Nov. 17.
The skaters will benefit Children’s Hospital & Health Center of San Diego in the process.
In 1999, the third year the event was held, the skating rink raised more than $50,000 to benefit the hospital, its sponsors said.
Katherine Matousek, marketing director of San Diego-based Sentre Partners, an owner-manager of two Broadway office buildings, said her company bought the refrigeration equipment for the 60-foot-by-100-foot ice rink because executives saw its potential as a charity fund-raiser and as a way to bring excitement to Downtown.
Sentre Partners rents out the concrete slab on Broadway Circle for concerts and catered parties during the rest of the year. Its 225 W. Broadway office tower is adjacent to the rink site.
The fund-raising event, which will run through January, is in its fourth season, with a variety of corporate sponsors donating time or money to help the effort, she said. Johnson and Jennings General Contracting and San Diego Engineering Services, both of San Diego, donate labor to assemble the ice rink. This year, Ace Parking of San Diego is the first financial sponsor to sign up, she said.
Last year, more than 50,000 skaters used the rink, an increase of 15,000 from the previous year.
San Diego Ice Arena, one of three indoor rinks in the county, operates the Downtown venue, she said.
“We’ve seen such an explosion in ice skating interest here in San Diego,” said Phillip Linnsen, general manager of San Diego Ice Arena. “Opening the Horton Square rink has only increased awareness of the sport. We have attracted thousands of people who ordinarily would not have come out to a traditional indoor arena and many of them loved the experience.”
For the past two years, Sentre Partners has invited the San Diego Unified School District to bring students on field trips to the Downtown rink for a no-charge chance to skate during weekdays. This year, the general public will be charged a $6 fee plus $2 skate rental, said Tanya Sterling, a spokeswoman for San Diego Ice Arena.
She said the seasonal skating rink at New York City’s Rockefeller Center inspired the idea for an outdoor rink.
Individual and group ice-skating lessons will be offered as well.
