LACE UP YOUR skates; it’s time to hit the ice!
Independent photo/Steve James
Celebrate the end of 2021 with free family ice skating at Middlebury’s Memorial Sports Center — after the town fireworks — from 7-8:30 p.m. on New Year’s Eve.
Does your family love gliding along the ice? Here are some more skating options to look forward to this winter.
The outdoor rink at Vermont Trade Winds Farm in Shoreham is always a treat — with flood lights for skating after dark, and a fire pit for warming up. Owner Tim Hescock said he started flooding the field in preparation for the rink earlier this week. “It really depends on the weather,” he said, “but we are hoping to have it open the day after Christmas.”
Tradewinds also has a network of cross-country ski trails and an excellent sledding hill, the use of which is included with skating access in a $25 family season pass.
SKATING AT MEMORIAL Sports Center in Middlebury.
Independent photo/Steve James
In Middlebury, Memorial Sports Center has open skating hours several days a week throughout the winter. Additionally, the rec department plans to install an outdoor rink on the fields near Mary Hogan School again this year. (Read about how the outdoor rink came to be last winter.) Program Coordinator Scott Bourne said he hopes to have it ready for public skating by mid-January.
The outdoor Bristol rink is located near the Bristol Rec Fields on Airport Drive, and the Vergennes outdoor rink is in Veterans’ Memorial Park. Both will be open daily, weather permitting, all winter.
Looking for a skating adventure? When conditions are right, you can find frozen flooded farm fields near the Lemon Fair River, or off Swamp Road in Cornwall.
Later in the winter, ice skaters can venture farther afield to Fairlee where they’ll find a 4.5 mile groomed skating loop on Lake Morey.