New Franklin skating rink slated to open this month, renovated rink in Gilford in January

Two communities are working on getting their public skating rinks up and running for the winter season. In Gilford, the rink's getting a facelift, and in Franklin, there's one being constructed, to bring skating back to the city for the first time in three decades.

Odell Park

Volunteers have been working day in and day out to get the brand-new rink ready in Odell Park in Franklin, and Franklin Parks and Rec Volunteers Treasurer Kathy Fuller said it's looking promising to have skaters on the ice for a Monday, Dec. 15, opening.

Fuller, who along with Stu Smith has been leading the way to bring skating back to the Three Rivers City, is excited about the progress that has been made in an endeavor paid for by donors.

“We are putting water on it as we speak, and the tentative date is still around Dec. 15, to get it open,” Fuller said. “It could be even sooner. Everyone is pushing us, but we want to be safe.”

Fuller said if you were a child in the 1950s and 1960s, the thing to do was to go to Odell Park and skate. Others may still recall that in the 1980s and 1990s, but it all stopped when a new Little League baseball field was built where an old outdoor skating rink formerly sat. There have been discussions over the years about bringing back skating, but the city didn’t have the funds to do so.

Fuller said the idea really got rolling last winter, when she was passing the Winnipesaukee River and saw someone on the ice shoveling off snow to create a spot for his two young children to skate. Knowing the current in the river, and being a retired nurse who recalls someone falling through the ice and dying years ago, she knew how dangerous that was. So, Fuller decided to form Franklin Parks and Rec Volunteers, hold meetings, and see how much demand was there for a safe place to skate.

What she found was that people really wanted skating to come back to the city, and everything snowballed from there. She contacted Parks & Rec Director Krystal Alpers about the idea, who suggested using the park's cottage as a warming hut. The community ultimately stepped up and renovated the hut, and it will also be used for concessions and to supply skates for children and adults to use for the winter, free of charge.

“We have a 4-H group collecting skates, a couple real estate companies are collecting, and some have been bought for us to supply,” Fuller said. “So, we can give them away for kids who can’t afford them. Or for adults. Skates are expensive.”

The goal is to have 100 pairs of skates available, with about half for children.

“I know the socioeconomics of Franklin, and a lot of parents just don’t have the money to afford them,” Fuller said. “We would love to help put and have it there for kids to come down and show was skating is like.”

Over the past year, donations have come in chunks, in increments of hundreds of dollars, all the way up to a $10,000 anonymous gift in September.

The rink, which is about two-thirds the size of an NHL rink, was purchased for a low price of about $3,000, and the water is pumped right from the Winnipesaukee River.

November was a busy time in Odell Park, as volunteers installed an accessibility ramp at the Odell Park Cottage, set up for new lights, installed sideboards, and now, the flooding of the rink has begun. At the end of the month, the liner installed for the rink failed, but in true grassroots style, the volunteers had a never-say-quit attitude.

“We had a crew over there, and one was my son who got into the cold water to use special tape used for swimming pools and ice rinks if a leak is sprung,” Fuller said. “It looks like it worked, and we aren’t leaking any ice.”

Almost daily, the ice rink’s Facebook page has kept the public updated with the progress. Clearly there is plenty of interest, as the page has more than 400 followers watching the project come to fruition.

Smith posted on Dec. 4 that the ice was 1.5 to 2 inches thick, and progress was being made. He was asking for volunteers to help, then posted a video of the rink being flooded, with 4 or more inches throughout.

“Everything from now on is up to mother nature,” Smith wrote on Facebook.

While much can be said about social media, both good and bad, Fuller said they have received plenty of good intel from other backyard ice rink groups. Some members had been making rinks for years, and provided useful advice, such as “don’t panic when it snows.”

Fuller said the group hopes to have a “welcome back” celebration, which will also honor the head of the city’s centennial committee, Michael Mullavey, who died last year. There are also ideas to honor the cottage caretakers, including Lucy Odell, who set up a trust for the park and was integral in keeping it as a place for recreation.

“We are on our way, and hope that in less than two weeks, we will be open,” Fuller said Thursday.

Gilford’s renovated rink

Gilford has had skating for years, but this winter there will be upgrades at the Varney Point Road facility thanks to new sideboards and lighting. Unlike Franklin, the Gilford rink is covered, and part of a recreational area near the beach. In the spring, the rink will also be the home of brand new pickleball courts, with lining expected to be installed when the weather warms back up.

In October, the Gilford Selectboard approved Sport Court Northeast install sideboards for $137,786.76. This replaces boards Town Manager Scott Dunn described as “pretty dilapidated.” Taxpayers will not be footing the bill for these improvements, as funding comes in part from a Land and Water Conservation Fund grant of $150,000. Eversource also provided $7,115 in a grant to install new LED lights.

A stipulation of the LWCF grant is the rink will be free for the public to use, including for non-residents.

On Thursday, Dunn said the boards are being built in Canada, and he’s waiting for their arrival. Fortunately, the same company will be doing all the installation work, and then they will flood the rink.

“We are hoping that skating will begin sometime in January,” Dunn said.