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The big freeze is ‘making the good life in Teton Valley even better'
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Teton Valley Foundation board members know well the art of building the frozen surface of an ice-skating rink. For the past several Decembers, Ari Kotler, Troy and Eric Olson, and other volunteers have met each night at six p.m. for a week or two to layer on the ice at Kotler Ice Arena in Victor’s Pioneer Park. They apply it as thin coats of water, an eighth of an inch at a time, with the goal of having ice thick enough to open the rink for skating by Christmas Day.
On an ideal night, each coat takes only ten to fifteen minutes to solidify. But depending on the weather, the volunteers may stay until one in the morning flooding the ice, waiting for it to freeze, and then flooding it again.
What is it that drives these individuals to stay out there on the edge of that cold rink until the wee hours of the morning? Kotler says it’s their love of skating and a desire to give back to the community and be good role models. They also want to give kids another opportunity, outside of traditional sports like basketball and wrestling, for participating in a winter team sport.
Historically, valley residents maintained public outdoor skating rinks. Then, several years ago, Kotler envisioned a permanent, covered ice rink that could provide Teton Valley with a community recreational facility different than anything existent, and which would make the skating season longer and the ice conditions more consistent.
From his days in Boston and Minnesota, where every winter baseball diamonds and lakes transform into ice rinks, Kotler also knew that skating facilities could provide an important social atmosphere that was lacking here in the winter. “If you think about it,” he says, “the skiing facilities close down by four p.m. here; and, aside from the bars, there aren’t many places where people can go to socialize after that.”
During the past eight years, a large contingent of professionals and volunteers have put their skills, equipment, and dollars to work, originally with the city of Victor and Teton Basin Ice and Recreation (TBIR) to locate and establish a permanent residence for the ice rink in Pioneer Park. More recently, TBIR merged with the Teton Valley Foundation, which brings Music on Main and other arts and cultural events to the valley. The foundation’s board of directors felt that it was a perfect fit, because the two entities had compatible missions, yet they were busy at different times of the year.
