PORT ANGELES — Ice skating at the Port Angeles Winter Ice Village comes to a close on Tuesday, wrapping up its sixth season that will approach, if not exceed, last year’s record-breaking attendance.
On Wednesday, the chillers will be turned off and the ice will be allowed to melt for another season.
A slow start for the first half of the six and one-half week season saw light attendance, but a quick rebound in second half attendance may put the current season over the top, organizers said.
Mark Abshire, executive director of the Port Angeles Chamber of Commerce which operates the ice village, said participation and revenue numbers would not be added up until early January, but by all appearances, this would be a strong year for the temporary ice skating rink.
“The first half of the season, we were behind a little bit, but we’ve since made up for it,” he said. “Last year was a record year and we’re doing as well this year as we did last year.
“We’re doing very close to our record year at this point.”
Ice skating turned a profit of about $20,000 during the 2022-23 season with 16,000 skater sessions. At the halfway point of the season, the village was running about 10 percent behind last year in attendance, Abshire said, but only about 5 percent behind on revenue, mostly because more season passes sold early on and an increase in refreshment prices.
Rink monitor Jacob Howe, 15, keeps watch on skaters during his volunteer shift on Wednesday at the Port Angeles Winter Ice Village. (KEITH THORPE/PENINSULA DAILY NEWS)
“We’re exceeding for this time of the year what we had last year,” she said. “It’s been gangbusters since the break.”
Robertson said the weekend attendance numbers this year were far ahead of those at the end of December 2022. Many of those skaters were likely to be first-time participants based upon the count of new electronic liability waivers that are required for all people on the ice.
The ice village operation has traditionally depended upon volunteers to help keep things moving, but this year was added a volunteer coordinator to the staff to keep slots filled and an automated electronic notification system to remind people who had signed up to help that their shift was upcoming.
Consequently, slots have been consistently filled, Abshire said. In addition, numerous organizations and businesses have stepped up for “take-overs,” filling all the available volunteers slots for a given shift.
Robertson said the texting program has been successful in keeping volunteers on track.
“I think that’s been making a difference,” she said. “It’s not nearly as much of a challenge as it was last year. But we’ll always need more help.”
As the skating season comes to a close, Abshire said he was grateful that the mechanical aspects of the village, such as the rented ice chilling equipment and resurfacing machine, have held up to trials of daily use.
Favorable weather also has made life easier for those who maintain the village.
“The last couple of years, we’ve had to spend time overnight sweeping snow from the roof of the tent, but this year with El Niño, we haven’t really had to,” Abshire said.
Knocking on his wooden desk for luck, Abshire added that wind hasn’t been an issue either.
“Those are our two biggest enemies — first wind and then second snow,” he said. “We haven’t have very much of either of those. It’s been a very pleasant, fantastic season.”
Volunteer Liz Trowbridge said she was seeing a steady stream of skaters on Friday as she staffed the Ice Village box office with hundreds of people showing up to experience the ice.
“People are having lots of fun and it’s been VERY busy,” she said.
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Photojournalist Keith Thorpe can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 59050, or at keith.thorpe@peninsuladailynews.com.
