Except for a couple of goofy guys in lumpy knit caps consistently falling on their rears, it’s pretty quiet at the Lincoln Park skating rink on a Tuesday afternoon. No music blares. The traffic on Lake Shore Drive keeps up a quiet hum in the distance.
By the weekend, dozens of screaming kids, scolding parents and chatting, hand-holding couples will make this kind of serenity impossible.
But on weekday afternoons, when the Chicago Park District’s eight newly opened refrigerated ice-skating rinks are free, a handful of skaters slide around and around. They’re mostly alone, in contemplation like the bundled-up joggers on the frigid Lincoln Park paths nearby.
“It’s nice when no one’s here,” says Chicago resident Daina Lyons, 32, who works in marketing and promotions at Cellular One and skates for an hour every couple of days. “It’s like sort of reliving childhood.”
Unlike Skate on State, the popular Loop rink that spawned eight similar skating spots throughout Chicago, there’s not a lot of showing off at the Lincoln Park rink. Some are here for the exercise: “I can feel it now in my hips, my legs, my back,” says Elvis Jenkins, a local college student who played hockey as a kid but hasn’t skated in years.
“Look at these people,” he says, loading his stuff into a car and pointing to Lyons and the half-dozen other people skating confidently around the rink. “They look real impressive. I haven’t got that yet.”
Others, like Mt. Carmel Academy 8th grader Alison Yohanna, 13, are here for the practice. She takes ice-skating lessons and has hit the rink almost every day since it opened two weeks ago. Her style is seamless, and she never falls. “I do it for fun,” she says. “It’s smooth ice — and not crowded.”
Ray Hernandez is here for the hockey — which is a bad thing, because there’s no hockey playing at the rink. After lazing on his couch on a day off, he decided to check out the rink to maybe take some fast laps and slap around some pucks.
Growing up as a hockey player in Chicago is frustrating, he says, because there’s never a place to play and there aren’t enough Blackhawks games on television. (Some of the new skating rinks in Chicago offer ice hockey; call the park district for times.) “It’s pitiful,” he says. “The ice looks terrible!”
“How’s the ice?” he shouts, as Yohanna zooms by, as if to prove his point.
“Pretty good,” she says, smiling back at him.
Wrong answer. Hernandez pauses for politeness, waits for Yohanna to skate by, then exclaims: “It’s like gravel!”
Eventually he concedes that the new rinks are good for skating and, in the long run, good for hockey. He gets an idea: “I’ll sneak out here at 4 in the morning when no one’s around. Let the cops kick me out.” He laughs and walks away.
Here are listings of some Chicagoland skating rinks:
Chicago
Skate on State, 110 N. State St. 9 a.m.-7:15 p.m. daily. Free admission. Skate rental: $3, adults; $2, children 12 and under. 312-744-2883. Daley Bi-Centennial Plaza, 337 E. Randolph St. 10 a.m.-10 p.m. weekdays; 10 a.m.-noon, 12:30-2:30 p.m. and 3-5 p.m. weekends. Admission: $2, adults; $1, children under 14. Rental: $2, adults; $1, children. Seniors, free admission and rental. 312-742-7648. McFetridge Sports Complex, 3843 N. California Ave. 3:30-5 p.m. Wednesday and Friday; 4:30-6 p.m. weekends; adult session, 9:15-10:45 p.m. Wednesday and Friday. Admission: $2.50, adults; $2, high school students; $1.50, children under 13. Rental: $2. 312-742-7585. Navy Pier, 600 E. Grand Ave. 11 a.m.-8 p.m. Monday through Thursday; 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Friday and Saturday; 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Sunday. Free admission. Rental: $4, adults; $3, children. 312-595-5100.
New Chicago rinks
(All refrigerated, Olympic-sized rinks opened for the first time two weeks ago; free admission, weekdays 3-5 p.m. and 5:30-7:30 p.m., weekends 12:30-3:30 p.m.; or $3 for adults and $2 for children. Call the Chicago Park District, 312-747-2200.)
Fuller Park, 331 W. 45th St. Garfield Park, 100 N. Central Park Ave. Lincoln Park, Waveland Avenue and Lake Shore Drive. Mt. Greenwood Park, 3721 W. 111th St. McKinley Park, 2210 W. Pershing Rd. Midway Plaisance, 58th Street and Woodlawn Avenue. Riis Park, 6100 W. Fullerton Ave. Rowan Park, 11546 S. Avenue L.
Arlington Heights
(4-9 p.m. weekdays; 10 a.m.-4 p.m. weekends; 10 a.m.-9 p.m. school holidays. Hockey at some rinks. Skating begins during first prolonged cold spell after Dec. 15. Admission: Free. No rentals. 847-577-3000.)
Camelot Park, 1005 E. Suffield Drive. Frontier Park, 1933 N. Kennicott Ave. Heritage Park, 506 W. Victoria Ln. Pioneer Park, 500 S. Fernandez Ave. Recreation Park, 500 E. Miner St. Hickory Meadows Park, Douglas and Marion Streets. Centennial Park, 1209 Burr Oak Drive. Raven Park, Highland Avenue and Burr Oak Drive.
Evanston
Robert Crown Community Center, 1701 Main St. 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. Monday-Friday; 3:30-5 p.m. Monday; 6-7:30 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday; 7-9 p.m. Friday; 4-5:30 p.m., 8-10 p.m. Saturday; 2-4 p.m. Sunday. Admission: $2.50, weekdays; $3 kids, $4 adults, weekends. Rental: $1.25. 847-328-9400. Ackerman Park, McDaniel and Central Streets. 10 a.m.-6 p.m. weekdays and Saturday; 1-6 p.m. Sundays. Admission: Free. No skate rental. 847-669-3316. Lagoon, Dawes Park, Church Street and the lakefront. 10 a.m.-6 p.m. weekdays and Saturdays; 1-6 p.m. Sundays. Admission: Free. No skate rental. 847-669-3316. Larimer Park, Crain and Oak Streets. 10 a.m.-6 p.m. weekdays and Saturdays; 1-6 p.m. Sundays. Admission: Free. No skate rental. 847-669-3316. Baker Park, Forest Avenue and Keeney Street. 10 a.m.-6 p.m. weekdays and Saturdays; 1-6 p.m. Sundays. Admission: Free. No skate rental. 847-669-3316.
Glen Ellyn
(Skating in the three locations begins Dec. 15.)
Lake Foxcroft, 2S540 Lambert Rd. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday; 12-5 p.m. Sunday. Admission: Free. No rental. 630-858-2462. Lake Ellyn, 645 Linden St. 4-9 p.m. weekdays; 9 a.m.-9 p.m. Saturday; noon-9 p.m. Sunday. (Hockey at designated areas.) Free. No rental. 630-858-2462. Newton Park, 707 Fairview Ave. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday; noon-5 p.m. Sunday. Free. No rental. 630-858-2462.
Hinsdale
Burns Field, Hickory and Vine Streets. 3:30-9 p.m. weekdays; 9 a.m.-9 p.m. weekends. Free. No rental. 630-789-7090. Stough Park, at Town Place and Stough Street. Free. No rental. 630-789-7090.
Skokie
Outdoor Ice Skating Rink, at Skokie Water Playground, 4701 Skokie Blvd. 4-8 p.m. weekdays; 8:30-10 p.m. teen night, Friday; noon-2 p.m., 4-8 p.m., 9 p.m.-midnight Saturday; noon-2 p.m., 4-8 p.m. Sunday. Admission: $1, children under 15; $2, adults; $3, nonresidents. Rental: $2. 847-674-1500, ext. 4383. Skatium, 9300 Weber Park Place. 10:15 a.m.-1 p.m. Tuesday-Friday; 6:45-8 p.m. Tuesday; 7-8:30 p.m. Friday; 1:30-3 p.m., 6-7:30 p.m. Saturday; 2-3:30 p.m. Sunday. Admission: $3, children; $3.50, adults, Tuesday-Thursday; $3.50, children; $4, adults, Friday-Sunday. Rental: $2. 847-674-1510.
West Dundee
Polar Dome, in Santa’s Village, Illinois Highways 25 and 72. 8:30-10:30 p.m. Friday-Saturday; 1:30-3:30 p.m. Saturday; 1:30-4 p.m. Sunday. Admission: $4.75. Rental: $2. 847-426-6751.
