Ribbon cut at new downtown ice skating rink on Court Square

A ribbon cutting was held at the front gate to the new ice skating rink on the Coshocton County Court Square the evening of Nov. 14. Coshocton County residents have a unique opportunity to skate downtown this winter season. The rink gives families, friends and neighbors a reason to come down and enjoy the lights, grab dinner at a local restaurant, and support local shops this holiday season.

"When Mark (Mills) says it takes a lot of time from a lot of people, I can speak from our office," said Dane Shryock, Coshocton County commissioner. "We have a tremendous office staff. We would not be standing here tonight if it were not for our office staff and the city and county maintenance that are all here. I want to thank them and our office staff."

"The ice rink is going to be tended by civic organizations or 501(c)(3)s that have volunteered to come in and work together," said Mary Beck, county administrator and project manager for the board of county commissioners. "We are going to give them a little cut of the profits, and each one is taking a weekend. They can sell hot chocolate or whatever if they want to, and anyone that would like to do that can let us know. We are open to anything like that. Tonight is our first night. All of this was donated by the Coshocton Foundation. We owe them a big thank-you."

Coshocton Mayor Mark Mills said this all started in Dennison. "When I was at a meeting, the mayor of Dennison came to me and said, 'Hey, we have an ice rink. We have a person who will bring the ice rink. I can connect you, and he will bring it to Coshocton, rent the skates and do all of the work,' and I said, 'That's awesome.'"

Beck wanted it on the courthouse square to create a Veterans Memorial Plaza and have the rink there in the winter. The mayor ordered the rink, the skates and the racks in early April. Beck got funding for the Veterans Memorial Plaza from the Department of Development, the CDC of Ohio and Jillian Flowers Associate Planner, and they went to the Coshocton Foundation, talked to Bob Pell and he helped. They also got funding from a local family with the Coshocton Foundation. There were some problems with shipping because the first rink was damaged, and Genesee & Wyoming, a shortline railroad holding company, brought the new one in a shipping container to Coshocton from Columbus on a truck.

"If you see an idea, steal the idea and run with it,” Mills said, “You see the vision; you say that will work in our community. I went to the commissioners' office, the city, the county. The Coshocton Foundation and local businesses have sponsored equipment for this. I would like to send a special thanks to Genesee & Wyoming Railroad. This was a year and a half work behind the scenes."

Mills said there are so many people to thank.

"If we have nothing else, we have a community here with ideas. We have people working together," he said. "You see a lot of craziness in the world, but we have a good kind of crazy going on here, and I love being a small part of it. There are a lot of dedicated people making the community better. I want to thank all of the people for working together, whether it’s volunteers or organizations who will donate their time or people in the community. This is a combination of a lot of people and a lot of time, and we're going to have a great holiday season.

"I think the downtown area will build on this and possibly every year make it bigger and bigger. Thanks to everyone that has been involved."

The rink offers ice skates and skating aid dolphins to rent as well. It will be open Fridays from 5-9 p.m., Saturdays from 3-9 p.m. and Sundays from 1-6 p.m. Skating and skate rental costs for up to one hour of skating are $8 for age 18 and older, $6 for age 5-17, free for age 4 and under, $6 for age 60 and older, $6 for military and first responders, and $2 for skate rental. Private parties are available outside of normal operating hours.

For more information on pricing and booking, call the Coshocton County Commissioners' Office at 740-622-1753.