The Damariscotta River Association is fundraising with the goal of opening an outdoor ice rink at its Round Top property in Nov. 2011.
“At the present time there is no community skating area for the greater Damariscotta/Newcastle area,” the organization said in a statement. “This would provide a centrally located area for families to ice skate and kids to play hockey on a good ice surface.”
Steven Hufnagel, the executive director of the Damariscotta River Association (DRA), said families in the area often travel as far away as Augusta or Rockport for ice skating.
DRA is looking for “more ways to get people out using the land, especially in the wintertime,” Hufnagel said March 3.
The organization’s extensive network of properties receive “plenty of use” in the spring, summer and fall, but it’s more difficult to draw a crowd – especially children and families – in the winter, Hufnagel said.
An outdoor ice rink can help fill the void and, if no one else, Hufnagel will use it. “I like getting outside in the winter and the only skating rink around is our parking lot,” he said, joking.
An initial fundraising goal of $8000 will pay for the installation of water lines and water heaters and the purchase of necessary materials, including plywood and custom materials from NiceRink – an industrial-strength plastic liner, brackets to hold the boards together and an ice resurfacer Hufnagel described as a “hand-held Zamboni.”
The funds will also pay for any necessary excavation and/or leveling at the site, a relatively flat space along Bus. Rt. 1 between the Women of Substance building and the Round Top farm driveway.
Hufnagel said a Dec. 30, 2010 Damariscotta History column in The Lincoln County News by Calvin and Marjorie Dodge (“Old Memories of Skating the Village Meadow in Damariscotta”) and the accompanying photographs of people skating on a flooded meadow, now home to Coastal Marketplace, helped inspire the idea.
Matt Filler chairs DRA’s stewardship committee and is leading the fundraising effort.
A self-described “old-time hockey player,” Filler laced up for Norwich University in Northfield, Vt., in the 1960s and continues to travel north to Kents Hill for Sunday night pick-up games.
Filler said an outdoor rink on Rt. 27 in Boothbay inspired the design of the planned DRA rink.
The rink, when complete, will measure 79 feet by 140 feet, short of regulation size (85 fee by 200 feet) but still a “good-sized rink,” in Filler’s opinion. The design will allow DRA to easily erect the rink every fall and dismantle it for storage the following spring.
Eventually, DRA hopes to improve the rink with lighting. Other possibilities include transforming the old Round Top Ice Cream building, near the rink site, into a parent-staffed snack bar with hot chocolate and a small area for skaters to warm up.
While Hufnagel and Filler stress the goal of providing a free, public rink for everyone, both said it’s feasible the organization may work with outside groups to set aside time for competitive hockey.
DRA will need volunteers throughout the process, both to help with the construction and installation and to help clean and maintain the ice, Filler and Hufnagel said.
The non-profit welcomes assistance from the community, they said. For $1000, DRA will put donors’ names on a sign facing Bus. Rt. 1.
Checks should be payable to the Damariscotta River Association and list “ice rink” in the memo line. Donors can mail the checks to the Damariscotta River Association, P.O. Box 333, Damariscotta, 04543.
