The Portage Park Department is planning to put an ice rink in the open-air pavilion on the city’s north side for winter fun.

Park Board President Andy Maletta said the pavilion is a good spot because it has a roof over the rink, protecting the ice from the damage snow and rain can cause at outdoor venues.

Using the pavilion will be cheaper than building a new structure downtown and hopefully will draw more attention to the pavilion.

“It probably will help with rentals, spring and summer,” Maletta said. “Until this year, we never really promoted it,” he said.

The pavilion isn’t easy to find if you don’t know what to look for. It’s near the entrance to Portage Lakefront and Riverwalk. Instead of turning north into the Indiana Dunes National Park site, drivers can turn south to get to the pavilion.

“We’ve done some enhancements to it,” Maletta said, including adding roll-down clear shades to be windblocks while still letting sunlight in.

The pavilion already has restrooms, and a room for a warming center to serve parents is already there. The building has a couple of nice fireplaces, Maletta noted, and a campfire area outside. “We can do kind of a fire and ice concept out there,” selling the ingredients for patrons to roast s’mores.

Skate rental is planned as well.

The park department contracted with a company that sets up ice rinks. It will cost about $150,000 to get the rink set up at the pavilion, Maletta said.

Colored lighting, a sound system and similar accoutrements will be added. Maletta hopes the skate rentals, rink rentals and concessions will recoup much of the cost.

“We had talked about doing something with an ice rink for a couple of years,” he said.

It fills a void for the community. Residents would say, “I wish we had a skate rink like Valpo does, or I wish we had a skate rink like Crown Point does,” Maletta said.

Maletta met the person working on this a couple of years ago and brought it up to Mayor Austin Bonta and Park Superintendent Kelly Smith. “I’ll take some of the credit for it, but it was collective,” Maletta said.

“There will be some kinks. We’re working pretty hard on who in the park will be responsible for running it,” Maletta said.

Don’t expect him to use the facility, though. “My skating days are long gone. My grandkids will probably love it.”

Doug Ross is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.