Hamilton City Ice Rink.

A winter wonderland is to be created in Garden Place September this year with Hamiltonians getting a taste of an outdoor ice skating rink in the central city. The ice skating rink will be around 15m x 30m and is planned to be set up for a month and would be open between 10am-10pm. Around 250 skaters will be able to grace the ice at any one time and the promoter Gareth Webber said it will give skaters a similar experience to that of the rink lit up outside Rockefeller Center in New York.

Rockefeller Centre, New York (Photo Courtesy of Waikato Times)

The rink is part of an ice hockey tour which is set to hit Auckland, Christchurch and Dunedin for matches, from then the rink will be broken up and sent on the City Rink Tour. “With all the cafes and bars around it's a great place and people can wind down and have a coffee in the day or have a drink at night." The placement of the rink in Garden Place creates a draw card to the centre of Hamilton bringing in people from around the region. The rink's debut in Hamilton coincides with the city's hosting of the Rugby World Cup and would share the space with the community days planned at Garden Place during the match games in the city. I think the timing and placement of this ice rink in Hamilton will bring lots of money into the economy and give people the chance to enjoy the CBD, with lots of things happening and newly renovated public spaces for people to enjoy.

Hamilton has definitely maximised on the opportunity of hosting some world cup matches as they have renovated many areas within the CBD and more renovation is still to come, such as the cafes and restaurants outside the Centreplace mall and the completion of Garden Place.  The development of many events and infrastructure in Hamilton is a great way to bring people, money and investment into Hamilton.

This is a great example of utilising public space well. Just wish it was for a longer period of time maybe more during winter. Could Hamilton City Council extend this to occur every year?