McMinnville on Ice has concluded its second season after treating almost one thousand skaters to winter-themed fun.

The synthetic ice rink opened for the 2023-24 season on Nov. 25 during the Flip the Switch event and finished the season on Jan. 13. McMinnville Parks & Recreation facility director Michael Benusches reported 938 skaters hit the ice this year, generating $4,690 in admission fees.

During its inaugural year, McMinnville on Ice saw 1,826 skaters and brought in $9,130 in collected admission fees. Not included in the skater total for 2022-23 are those who skated for free during 2022’s Christmas in the Park event sponsored by Homeland Community Bank. Last year’s skating season spanned from Dec. 2 to Jan. 28.

“This year overall went really well,” said Benusches. “We had a few obstacles due to the weather. We couldn’t open the first Saturday because of it and had to push our opening weekend back. All of us kind of had to roll with the punches, and that was our biggest obstacle as far as seeing a difference due to numbers.”

In spite of the weather conditions, Benusches remained grateful for the collaboration between the Tourism Development Board (TDB) and Parks and Recreation in bringing McMinnville on Ice to fruition and finds the past two years provide experience to use for its return next season.

 “We are looking forward to next year and are working on some ways we can expand on advertising for McMinnville on Ice with new signage and tweak our hours of operation a bit,” Benusches explained. “It’s always rewarding to be able to bring a new and exciting type of recreation to downtown for residents and visitors.”