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Joined: 13 Mar 2011
Posts: 198
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 Posted: Tue Mar 15, 2011 5:22 pm Post subject: Chicago Park District |
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The ice skating rink at McCormick Tribune Plaza is 200 feet by 80 feet (61 m × 24 m). Due to the rink's rounded corners, the total skating surface is 15,910 square feet (1,478 m2),[30][31] which critic Blair Kamin called "amply sized".[11] For comparison, this is a considerably larger skating surface than the Rockefeller Center rink in New York City, which is 120 feet by 60 feet (37 m × 18 m).[32]
The Millennium Park rink has a lobby to provide skaters a respite from the natural environs, as well as toilets and public lockers.[3] During the 2003–04 season the rink rented 77,667 pairs of ice skates.[32] By 2009–2010, its ninth season, it was attracting more than 100,000 skaters a year. While availability of the rink depends on the weather, it also has a state-of-the-art chiller system that can maintain the ice in the event of unseasonably warm weather. Thus, temperature is not the only factor involved in decisions to close the rink.[3] In his review of the plaza and rink, Kamin gave it two stars (out of a possible four), called the structure "solid, though unremarkable", and praised its uses throughout the year.[11]
When the rink is closed, its surface becomes a 150-seat cafe that complements the 300-seat indoor Park Grill dining facility.[30][33] Street level features such as McCormick Tribune Plaza are linked to elevated features such as Cloud Gate and AT&T Plaza, which are atop the Park Grill Restaurant and can be reached via balustraded stairs.[34]
[edit] Operations
An ice resurfacing machine in action at a skating rink
The McCormick Tribune Zamboni operates every two hours.
Through 2006 and 2007, the McCormick Tribune Ice Rink was one of several operated by the Chicago Park District.[35] Since then, although the Chicago Park District still operates ten public ice skating rinks,[36] the Millennium Park ice rink is operated by a division of the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs,[37][38] itself a Department of the City of Chicago Government.[39][40]
[edit] Ice rink
McCormick Tribune Ice Rink is generally open for skating afternoons and evenings seven days a week, with longer hours on weekends.[41] However, it is occasionally closed for private events.[35][36] Skating is free and skate rental is available.[30] Except for its first year, the rink has been scheduled to be open from mid-November until mid-March, weather permitting.[35][36] For the 2009–10 winter season, the rink is scheduled to be open from November 20, 2009 to March 14, 2010, with abbreviated holiday schedules on Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and New Year's Eve.[41] Skating is accompanied by loudspeaker music,[4] which is mostly seasonal music during the holidayswholesale soap
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