The inaugural season of skating at the ESB Financial Holiday Plaza wraps up this weekend.
The final days of skating will kick off on Wednesday with a community skate event that will include discounted skating and pizza courtesy of Simple Simon’s. The community skate event will run from 5 pm to 8 pm.
Skating will continue Thursday through Sunday, 5 pm to 8 pm, as well, before the rink will be taken down for the year. The rink, which was made possible by a partnership between Visit Emporia, the Chamber of Commerce and ESB Financial, has been highly popular in its debut season, according to Interim Visit Emporia Director Matt Fowler, a recent guest of KVOE’s Morning Show.
Fowler says it was difficult to project what attendance would look like heading into the inaugural skate season with the plaza being such a new addition, but the attraction managed to bring in more than 1,000 individuals over the last month and a half.
Current plans are to erect the skating plaza every holiday season now for the foreseeable future, with the rink having a 10-year life expectancy, according to Fowler. Noting that the weather led to the rink’s closure more than once over the season, KVOE News asked Fowler if there are any plans for changing the plaza’s location in future years, to which he says, “Every option is on the table” at this time.
That said, Fowler believes the current placement of the rink in the downtown corridor is a “key part” of the attraction.
For more information, visit the ESB Financial, Visit Emporia or Emporia Area Chamber of Commerce Facebook pages.
