Last year’s unseasonable warmth put a stutter step in the otherwise steady 10 percent annual climb in sales of ice skating gear over the last decade. Now that El Niño is kaput, New England is looking at colder than normal weather through February. When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. When the polar vortex gives you plunging mercury, go skating. The new skating path on Boston City Hall Plaza adds yet another option for outdoor skating in rink-rich Metro Boston. But when you’re headed out of town, it’s always worth tossing the skates into the trunk. You never know when you’ll find a little pocket rink in a park or a shallow pond safe for skating. If you do catch the ice skating bug, here are some spots around New England worth seeking out for smooth gliding, flashing blades, and sprays of ice chips. Double axel anyone?
WORCESTER COMMON OVAL, WORCESTER
History does not record whether early Worcester settlers skated on the Common once it was laid out in 1669, but Worcesterites certainly flock to the Worcester Common Oval now. The handsome rink sits at the edge of the Common behind the 1898 Italianate Revival City Hall, which makes a stately backdrop. At 12,000 square feet, the rink is actually larger than the Rockefeller Center rink in Manhattan. When you get chilled, the Dogfather food truck sells such warming options as The Hitman (a fire-roasted hot dog with hot sauce, peppers, and sauerkraut) or good old Frito Pie (a mini-bag of Frito chips smothered in hot chili and melted cheese). 455 Main Street, Worcester, 508-929-0777, www.worcestercommonoval.com. Open Friday 5-8 p.m., Saturday and Sunday noon-5 p.m. Extended days and hours during school vacation weeks. All ages $5, skate rental $3.
ALEX AND ANI CITY CENTER,
PROVIDENCE
At 14,000 square feet, the urban ice in Providence is also bigger than Rockefeller Center. It also gets quite a workout as there are 12 hours of public skating daily. Nestled between a pair of landmark buildings — the yellow brick of 1898 Union Station and the Art Deco vertical thrust of the 1927 “Superman’’ skyscraper — the rink is surrounded by the spires of the downtown skyline. The pop soundtrack provides plenty of rhythm for carving a figure or just speeding back and forth as if chasing a puck. Serious figure skaters can practice their routines for two hours before the public skate on weekdays. In the early evening, office workers leave their cubicles and take to the ice to dust off figure skating and hockey dreams. 2 Kennedy Plaza, Providence, 401-553-6438, www.alexandanicitycenter.com/ice-skating. Open daily 10 a.m.-10 p.m. Adults $7; 12 and under, 65 and older, military $4; skate rentals $6. Weekday figure skating (8-10 a.m.) $10 for 30 minutes, $18 for 1 hour.
FOXWOODS RINK & WINTER PATIO, MASHANTUCKET, CONN.
The rink at Foxwoods Resort Casino might be in the middle of the Connecticut woods, but it’s also steps from the Fox Tower Premier Ballroom. That means a certain amount of glitz and glam — in this case, more than 100,00 lights strung in the trees surrounding the ice. A mug of hot chocolate after skating tastes especially good if you score one of the Adirondack chairs clustered around four outdoor fireplaces. 350 Trolley Line Boulevard, Mashantucket, Conn, 860-312-3000, www.foxwoods.com/ice-rink. Open Sunday 11 a.m.-9 p.m., Monday-Thursday 2-9 p.m., Friday 2-10 p.m., Saturday 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Extended hours during February school vacation. Adults $10, skate rental $5; ages 12 and under $6, skate rental $2.
THE RINK AT THOMPSON’S
POINT, PORTLAND
Sticking out into the tidal Fore River at the tip of Thompson’s Point just off I-295, this rink has nifty views of the Portland back river on one side and the downtown skyline on the other. A pavilion arches above 10,000 square feet of smooth ice (also bigger than Rockefeller Center), keeping snow off the surface. A simple warming hut is always open, and the heated Beer Yurt (Wednesday-Sunday) has benches and tables for enjoying an adult beverage during breaks from the ice. Many skaters opt to dine in the yurt on hot dogs, ribs, or pulled pork from the Fahrenheit 225 food truck — open Thursday through Sunday the same hours as the rink. 10 Thompson’s Point, Portland, Maine, 207-747-9399, www.therinkatthompsonspoint.com. Open Monday-Friday 2-9 p.m., Saturday 9 a.m.-11 p.m., and Sunday 9 a.m.-9 p.m. All ages $8, skate rental $2.
NESTLENOOK FARM RESORT,
JACKSON, N.H.
Horse-drawn Austrian sleigh rides are the specialty at Nestlenook Farm Resort, a 65-acre Victorian estate that looks lifted whole from a Currier and Ives calendar illustration. But around 400 people per day also take a spin on the ice of Emerald Lake, part of the three-acre Victorian Skating Park, which has two picturesque bridges among its features. A small island reached by one of the bridges holds a warming hut where hot chocolate is served by the roaring fire. (The hut is also popular with folks who come to snowshoe for the day.) If your blades are a bit nicked and dull, Nestlenook also offers custom skate sharpening. 66 Dinsmore Road, Jackson, N.H., 603-383-7101, www.nestlenookfarm.com. Open Friday noon-8 p.m., Saturday 9 a.m.-9 p.m., and Sunday 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Extended hours and days during school vacation weeks. Adults $10, ages 6-12 $7, 5 and under free; skate rentals $9 for one hour or $12 per day. See web site for prices on sleigh rides and snowshoeing.
LAKE MOREY, FAIRLEE, VT.
The lake belongs to the state of Vermont, and once it freezes solid (usually the first week of January), the ice is open for skating, sledding, ice fishing, and sleigh rides. As a gift to the community, Lake Morey Resort maintains a 4.5-mile skate path around the circumference of the lake — said to be the longest skate path in the U.S. There is also a groomed cross path at the halfway mark for those not up making the whole circuit. When the resort started clearing the path, it had no idea how popular skating would be. Now 1,000 to 1,200 people per day show up to skate. The resort maintains 18 pond hockey rinks to accommodate the Vermont Pond Hockey Championship in early February. Some of those rinks are often open for recreational skaters or for a pickup hockey game. 1 Clubhouse Road, Fairlee, Vt., 802-333-4311, lakemoreyresort.com. Lake open 24/7 for skating. Lake Morey Skate Shack Saturday & Sunday 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Free admission, skate rental $10 (complimentary for resort guests).
Patricia Harris and David Lyon can be reached at harrislyon@gmail.com.
