WICKER PARK — Lace up your skates: Wicker Park's ice skating rink will open this weekend.
Early Wednesday, rink organizers announced on the Wicker ICE Facebook page that a ribbon cutting is scheduled for noon Sunday.
Starting Monday, daily rink hours for all ages will be from 9 a.m.-7 p.m. daily, with an adults-only free skate from 7-8 p.m. daily.
Hockey games will be played from 7-9 a.m. and 8-9 p.m. on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays. Players will be required to resurface the rink after the games on a golf cart Zamboni.
For players interested in puck-and-stick hockey, registration is required by email and a waiver must be signed before playing. (Read the hockey rules and sign an electronic waiver here).
The park field house will be open from 9 a.m.-9 p.m. on days the rink is open for restroom access and warm-up breaks from the cold.
There will be no skate rentals available, so skaters must bring their own. Four 7-foot-long benches with rubber matting will serve as rest areas and changing stations.
Erected and filled with water on Dec. 5, the 60-foot-by-120-foot rink won't be frozen and safe for skaters until Chicago gets seven consecutive days of temperatures below 30 degrees, which may not be until Saturday. But supporters of the volunteer-run rink are prepared.
Doug Wood, secretary of the Wicker Park Advisory Council and coordinator of the rink committee, said that a meeting at 7 p.m. Wednesday in the park field house, 1425 N. Damen Ave., will discuss maintenance.
In an email, Wood described the meeting agenda as "all about maintenance and what to do if the rink is ready for skating. Who are rink monitors, resurfacers, etc." Another gathering at 7 p.m. next Tuesday will continue to discuss logistics and if the rink has opened by then, how the grand opening weekend went, Wood said.
For more neighborhood news, listen to DNAinfo Radio here:
