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That's Cold: No Free Skates at Millennium Park on New Year's Eve

December 15, 2015 3:37pm | Updated December 15, 2015 3:37pm
The Millennium Park Ice Rink will open Nov. 13.
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Flickr/Devon Christopher Adams

MILLENNIUM PARK — Turns out there won't be free New Year's Eve skate rentals at Millennium Park after all. 

"Chi-Town Rising," the unprecedented outdoor New Year's festival on Chicago's riverfront, said Tuesday that free skates at the Downtown park were never part of the plan, despite earlier messages from sponsors that there would be. Instead, skaters can bring their own or rent a pair for $10. 

"There was a misunderstanding from outside parties," said Emmy Carragher, a spokeswoman for the event. 

The announcement came several weeks after NBC5 — a "Chi-Town Rising" sponsor that will broadcast the event — and DNAinfo Chicago reported that a children's event from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. Dec. 31 would include free skate rentals at Millennium Park. 

Headlined by classic rock band Chicago, "Chi-Town Rising" will feature a star rising up the side of the Hyatt Regency Chicago, 151 E. Wacker Drive, to ring in 2016.  

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