Ice, ice Decatur: Civic Center's ice rink ready a month early

DECATUR, Ill. (WAND) - The Decatur Civic Center has ice—already. It is ready to go about a month earlier than normal.

"The community asked for it," said Sarah Butts, the Civic Center's Marketing and Event Manager. "We have a lot of stuff going on now. We have our youth hockey, Decatur Youth Hockey. We also have a women's league, a men's league, we have a junior team and we have a figure skating club now, so we need to get on the ice."

It is not a quick or easy process to turn the concrete floor into a working ice rink.

Just last Thursday, it was all concrete. A giant refrigerator below the surface is cooled enough to create condensation, eventually revealing a thin layer of ice.

"We have to build it up to an inch and a third is where we maintain our ice at," said Bert Roulinson, a Zamboni driver at the center. "When you're doing it at 64th of an inch per trip, or a 32nd of an inch per trip, it takes quite some time."

The ice will have to be smoothed out before the first skate of the year, which is Friday night.

"I always say it's the most wonderful time of the year," Butts said. "We're busy, people coming and going, just everybody getting involved and being here at the Civic Center, it's a lot of people."

The Friday night skate runs from 7-9 p.m. Admission is $7 and skate rentals cost $3.50.