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Annual Spring Ice Show March 9 Will End Skating Forever at N. County Rink
A handful of skaters came to a recent Sunday session. A father-daughter duo used the public session to practice figure skating.
TEXT AND PHOTOS BY BOB LINDSEY
After more than 30 years of providing skating opportunities for North County residents, the North County Recreation Complex ice rink on Redman Road will close, with the last public event this Sunday, March 9 at 2 p.m.
The North County Recreation Complex Spring Ice Revue is the culmination of the past year’s skating programs and this year’s show themed “Fantasy Blades” will conclude 30-plus years of ice shows. The ice rink held a holiday ice show in December for several years, but in recent years there’s only been a Spring show featuring kids and teens from beginners to competitive figure skaters.
In the ’70s and ’80s, the rink offered a Tiny Tots pre-school and skating lessions were part of the program.
The St. Louis County Parks Department plans to tear down the rink and build a new indoor fitness and recreation center with a gym for basketball, an indoor track and fitness center.
Some long time skating enthusiasts, led by the St. Louis North Stars Skating Club, lobbied the county to keep the rink open, but failed in their efforts. County officials insisted that the rink is under utilized and a new indoor recreation center would better fit the community.
For the last three and half decades, the rink was used for classes, public skating, amateur and high school club hockey and was open for skating six months of the year. Even this year, high school club hockey teams from North County, St. Charles County and even Illinois used the rink for games. Not too many years ago, men’s hockey teams rented the rink often after midnight for both practice and league games.
Ice skaters from throughout the metro area one considered the rink to have the smoothest ice in town, even superior to the Brentwood Recreation Complex where the St. Louis Blues practiced before St. Louis Mills was built. There were a few occasions when the Blues would practice at North County Recreation.
In the last few years, most public sessions had fewer than 20 persons attending sessions with less than that during weekdays.
After being a long fixture in North County, the rink will be missed. The City of Florissant has an outdoor rink and St. Louis Mills has an indoor rink, which offers some public sessions.
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