The Siskiyou Ice Rink
Rural area realizes dream of ice rink
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The Siskiyou Ice Rink in Mt. Shasta was born from a dream. One snowy afternoon on the shores of a frozen alpine lake, Michael Williams, who was new to both the community and ice skating, decided that this alpine community needed an ice rink. Four years and $600,000 later, Williams and a large group of volunteers have seen that dream realized in a rink tucked into a neighborhood park on the slopes of Mount Shasta.
Nancy Van Susteren is one of the volunteers who has been with the project since its inception in the fall of 1997. Nancy and her family have been active participants in fundraising, which drew $200,000 in donations from small towns on the flanks of the mountain.
Van Susteren was there on the shores of Castle Lake, after a group of skaters had left the ice when falling snow closed the narrow window between lakes freezing and snow covering the ice. After a day with his friends who were teaching him to skate, Williams became inspired to build an ice rink upon hearing that the season was over.
"We're an alpine town," Williams said. "We have a ski park; it's obvious that we needed an ice rink."
The veteran skaters, who had been scouting for iced-over lakes for 10 years, gave Williams a ribbing. A lot of work, an expensive project, they told him. Shortly after that day at Castle Lake, Williams joined with Jack Moore, a prominent community volunteer, and went to the Parks and Recreation District with their idea. The project was off and running, and eventually the recreation district made a site available on the spacious grounds of Shastice Park where Mount Shasta towers in the background.
"It was one of those things where everything just fell into place," said Williams, an engineer who put his work on hold to donate two years of full-time research, grant writing, shopping for equipment and coordinating volunteer efforts.
Moore, who had grown up ice skating on the East Coast, had also dreamed of giving an ice rink to the community. After seeing the success of a nearby outdoor rink in Southern Oregon, Moore believed that the tools were available to bring an ice rink to Mt. Shasta. Williams pursued the technical aspects of constructing their dream and Moore spearheaded the fundraising efforts which immediately gained momentum in the surrounding towns.
While Moore's fundraising was a key in bringing the community into the project, he gives praise to the volume of work that Williams completed to see it to fruition.
"Michael has dedicated the last four years to this project. It's phenomenal; it can't be understand," Moore said.
Volunteers poured time and energy into the project and founded Friends of the Rink, which became a nonprofit organization. Funds were raised through a number of events - dances, a community yard sale, ice rink blanket sales, the Ice Dream Social event, and kids with donation tins at Halloween.
"The fundraisers didn't get the biggest community dollars," said Williams. "Our biggest donations were from individuals calling us saying `We want to get behind this' and they'd write us a check."
When the time came for planning and construction, community engineers, contracting firms and ice hockey enthusiasts contributed their time, knowledge and skills to the project. On the day the freezing coils arrived, students in the leadership class at Mt. Shasta High School came to the site to help unload the trucks.
The dream of the ice rink stayed alive through four years of work with the help of slogans generated for fundraising during the annual Fourth of July celebration. Every year Mt. Shasta comes alive with visitors for the Fourth of July Fun Run/Walk and the ensuing two days of celebration. The fundraising began in 1998 with "Skate in '98" and continued on with "Skating's fine in '99" when it became apparent that initial projections for the cost of building the rink had been significantly underestimated.
"There's always been so much momentum," Moore said. "I knew this project had to be finished because the community wanted it."
The project had some setbacks - the rink had to make changes to its methods of operation after its inaugural season in 2000 and didn't operate in 2001. The Friends of the Rink volunteers continued to push for completion of the project, and with community support, the rink reopened in January of 2002. Two years later, permanent concrete flooring replaced the original coolant coils on sand, and opened the rink to roller skating activities in warmer weather.
Friends of the Rink volunteers are not finished with their work. Plans for a roof are underway and there are whispers of a heated lobby, locker rooms, kitchen facilities and more. Volunteers are also logging time on the ice, filling out the adult and women's hockey sessions and skating with their kids.
"Everybody had a dream that we could do this and an incredible cast of volunteers built this beautiful rink," Moore said. "The whole thing has really been an act of heart."
Residents are no longer dreaming about skating, they're doing it, according to Recreation District Administrator Mike Rodriguez. Area school children take field trips to the rink and companies have scheduled staff parties there. Adult and youth hockey has exploded at the rink, which meets dimension standards of the National Hockey League...a rare and luxurious size for a small town rink. Locals and visitors are delighting in the daily open skate sessions.
"It's such a delight to go there and see kids skating with smiles on their faces. It's the ultimate reward," Van Susteren said. "The thing that's so nice about skating is that you're all there together. You can be a bad skater or an excellent skater, and you're still there together. That's what makes it such a great family experience."
As for Williams, he's eased up on his efforts, and given some responsibilities to other volunteers. He's now enjoys the rink with his twin daughters who were born amidst the years of work on the ice rink.
"It's time for me to be a dad," he said.
The joy of ice skating is one that both visitors and locals are welcome to relish. Siskiyou County Director of Tourism, Joanne Steele, is excited about the opportunity for visitors to enjoy ice skating while visiting the area.
"This is a wonderful boon to our winter visitors who can add one or more sessions of ice skating to their winter snow play in the Mount Shasta Country," said Steele.
The opportunities for adventure are plenty with two sledding hills, the Mount Shasta Board and Ski Park and extensive backcountry. Winter weather brings snow that can last through April at the Ski Park and even longer in the backcountry.
The fluctuating weather conditions make ice upkeep a challenge. With cooperation from the weather, the rink is scheduled to be open seven days a week with three open skate sessions daily between the hours of 1-7 pm. Open skate sessions are extended on Friday and Saturday nights.
Small children to senior citizens frequent the open skate sessions, according to Steele.
"It's wonderful to see the smiles, the complete array of styles from the three year olds to the 80 year olds. They're all out there having a giggle."
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