Glastonbury residents are disappointed to hear the Riverfront Park skating area may not be open this year.
Glastonbury Town Manager Richard Johnson said the area was designed to be flooded during the winter and frozen for outdoor skating. But this year, something isn’t working right.
“We really started off really well and had a lot of skating, weather cooperated. And then in the subsequent years we started to have some leaking problems in the area,” said Johnson, who believes the drains within the 2-foot-deep area are the problem. Two of the sealed catch basins used to drain the pond at the end of the season are leaking.
Glastonbury resident Ayesheh Nims grew up ice skating and was looking forward hitting the ice with her nieces and nephews this year.
“It’s very upsetting. Because I love to ice skate and it would just be so much fun to have in town,” Nims said. “It makes you feel the spirit of Christmas.”
While Johnson is hoping they’ll find a solution in time for the holidays, he says residents are ready to take the issue into their own hands if the problem isn’t fixed.
“Yesterday I talked to a local resident who’s interested on working with us on a fundraiser to put up a portable rink, and I’ve heard from other residents as well,” Johnson said.
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“I saw them working on it a week or two ago and wondering what was going on,” said resident Lynn Damon who lives across the street from the park, and was hoping to teach her grandchildren to skate there this year. “It will be a disappointment I think to the community if it’s not full and frozen.”
