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Rink Roundups / Re: Updates to list of ice rinks within about 100 miles of Washington, DC?
« Last post by Query on Today at 12:21:11 PM »Not quite so many as it appears. I'm pretty sure some of the rinks I've listed have disappeared since Covid. And many are seasonal, and are currently closed. Some are stadiums that are only ice rinks for special events, like professional hockey games.
Fort Dupont and Mount Vernon are closed for construction. When I called Dr. John J. McMullen (Annapolis), I was told me they had no public sessions, and that I could only enter freestyle sessions with a coach! (I'm not certain they meant that the coach had to be with me, but that was my impression.)
And I'm sure there are others.
I know a lady who lives near Baltimore who skates south of the Beltway. In fact there are a lot of people who are driving hours.
Plus, if you look at the map, my included area includes rinks well outside the DC metro area.
A lot of the pro shops have closed or merged too - but I gave up on listing them.
In fact, a lot of sports and recreational facilities closed with Covid, and have never re-opened. Others took that time to start reconstruction: ice rinks have a finite lifetime, and some were built before people had learned to deal with frost heave and erosion problems under ice rinks by heating the underlying structure, or used structures that weren't strong enough to take them.
AFAICT, private ice rinks never were a particularly great business investment. Many sports and recreational facilities need government and/or private subsidy. It's difficult to re-establish those relationships in a short time period, and some sponsors are out of business or in economic trouble.
And area traffic jams have gotten worse.
Prices had to go up during Covid, and pre-registration requirements were added, to handle health concerns. Unfortunately, though Covid is being dealt with better now, some of that remains.
To what extent have the same things affected rinks outside the U.S.?
Fort Dupont and Mount Vernon are closed for construction. When I called Dr. John J. McMullen (Annapolis), I was told me they had no public sessions, and that I could only enter freestyle sessions with a coach! (I'm not certain they meant that the coach had to be with me, but that was my impression.)
And I'm sure there are others.
I know a lady who lives near Baltimore who skates south of the Beltway. In fact there are a lot of people who are driving hours.
Plus, if you look at the map, my included area includes rinks well outside the DC metro area.
A lot of the pro shops have closed or merged too - but I gave up on listing them.
In fact, a lot of sports and recreational facilities closed with Covid, and have never re-opened. Others took that time to start reconstruction: ice rinks have a finite lifetime, and some were built before people had learned to deal with frost heave and erosion problems under ice rinks by heating the underlying structure, or used structures that weren't strong enough to take them.
AFAICT, private ice rinks never were a particularly great business investment. Many sports and recreational facilities need government and/or private subsidy. It's difficult to re-establish those relationships in a short time period, and some sponsors are out of business or in economic trouble.
And area traffic jams have gotten worse.
Prices had to go up during Covid, and pre-registration requirements were added, to handle health concerns. Unfortunately, though Covid is being dealt with better now, some of that remains.
To what extent have the same things affected rinks outside the U.S.?