Next month ice skating will captivate Americans as the Winter Olympics claim the international spotlight. Figure skating, speed skating and ice hockey in far-away Sochi, Russia will hold our attention. A small but energetic group of Jefferson residents want folks to know that ice skating isn’t just for the Olympics, it’s for everyone, and it’s as close as Chautauqua Park in Jefferson.
The Jefferson outdoor skating rink was built in 1999 with a generous donation from the Jefferson Telephone Company’s charitable trust. Unusable tennis courts were taken out and an 80- X 120-foot rink was built. The intention was that the rink be used for rollerblading and roller hockey three seasons a year, and that it be flooded as an ice rink during the winter.
Total cost of the rink was estimated at about $50,000; the telephone company paid $37,000. The city crew provided $8,000 in labor and the remaining funds, about $5,000, came from the city park and recreation department’s 1999-2000 budget.
Park and recreation department employees have flooded the rink each year, with the fickle Iowa weather always a factor in the quality of the ice. Tucked away well off Russell Street east of the municipal swimming pool, the ice rink has not been used much.
Rich and Reagan Osborne, who live near the park, would like to see that change. They and their son Mason are frequent skaters and have adopted maintaining the ice as a winter project.
Reagan started a Fans of the Jefferson Ice Rink Facebook page two years ago. She updates ice conditions regularly, making it easy for skaters to know when to get out their skates.
Reagan enjoys her time skating, even if she’s pushing a shovel clearing off snow. The rink can be lighted at night, but according to Reagan, “when there’s a full moon you hardly need the lights, and it’s so awesome being out in the cold and the quiet and the moonlight.”
Rich is mechanically minded. In their early years of tinkering with the ice, he skated pulling garden cart loaded with a pair of Igloo coolers applying water with a broom attached at the back to spread out the freshly applied water.
He has now “invented” a “Deere-boni” to groom the ice. He drives a John Deere garden tractor dragging a platform with the Igloos trailing water on the ice.
Last weekend, Reagan rated the condition of the ice as “pretty good.” She said it ranged in thickness from 3 to 8 inches, and the surface was acceptably smooth.
The Osbornes volunteer their time grooming the ice. Maintaining the ice rink falls to the parks and recreation department, with the largest ongoing cost being lighting. Electrician Chris Durlam said the lights need work almost every year. Water to flood the rink costs about $250, park and recreation director Vicky Lautner said. Clearing snow from the ice takes city staff about two hours each snowfall, depending on the amount, so Lautner is appreciative of the Osbornes’ help.
The Jefferson park and recreation department planned a broom ball party at the ice rink last week. Games like broom ball make the rink a fun place for anyone, as no skates are required. Broom ball is a neighborhood version of ice hockey in which players use brooms to move a small rubber ball along the ice. “It was a work out, just staying on our feet on the ice, but it was a lot of fun,” JPRD assistant director Libby Towers said.
