top of page
Search

Skating Rinks

Writer's picture: Robert AdamsRobert Adams

Updated: Feb 3



THIS WINTER BROUGHT old-fashioned snowy conditions to my environs, which I certainly appreciated. It also sparked fond memories from my childhood, when I lived in the suburbs of Detroit, where it seemed like winter lasted months on end.


In the 1950s and 1960s, my brothers and I, under the direction of our Dad, built a huge oval-shaped skating rink in our backyard. If we were lucky, the ice would last from December through March. We began by compacting the snow on our lawn with an old lawn roller we found in a neighbor’s trash.


We would skate and play hockey almost daily. Each year brought new features to the rink. One year our neighbor added an electrical outlet at the base of a large maple tree that was smack dab in the middle of the hockey rink. This brought us floodlights that were mounted on the upper branches which allowed extended hours for skating and helped with nighttime visibility in our ice resurfacing.


A few years later, the same neighbor made custom hockey goals from 2x4s and chicken wire to replace our split firewood log goals. This finally standardized the dimension of the goal mouth so we could stop arguing about allowable goals.


Much fun and satisfaction centered around the nightly resurfacing of the ice. This sure beat doing homework was my thought back then. The rink first had to be cleared of either fresh fallen snow or ice shavings from our skates. We usually performed this wearing our skates and after shoveling we changed into rubber boots and then added several coats of water from our garden hoses. We often had to defrost the valves and hoses to get the water flowing. Hot water from Mom’s older kitchen pot would help with this cause.


There was nothing prettier than looking out on the newly finished skating rink after an hour and a half of our group's hustle and bustle. The backyard ice sparkled in the floodlights. True satisfaction came over us after the work was completed. I was ready to call it a night, hop into my winter pajamas, and slumber under my bed covers.


 

The above photo is of the winter skating rink at F&M Park in Traverse City after it was resurfaced this week with water from the nearby fire hydrant.

58 views0 comments

Recent Posts

See All

Comments


Follow

Contact

Address

In a tiny loft somewhere in northern Michigan

©2017 by Robert Bruce Adams, Author and Humorist

bottom of page