Outside Skating Rinks

Do you remember outside skating rinks? Being a long-time resident of Valley County, I remember when almost every community had an outdoor skating rink. If you lived in a larger community like Glasgow, you had the luxury of several different skating sites. On the other hand, if you were from one of the surrounding smaller communities, there was one skating pond where the skaters gathered. No age limits either. I assume time of day had a lot to do with the age of the people skating. It does make me sad to think of the fun the young miss out on today.

Not everyone went to town to skate. There was lots of skating done on the creeks, reservoirs, or even hay meadows, if you happen to have fall flooding that froze over. Now the latter option did require a little more effort, as you often needed to clear the ice. As I remember, that did not deter too many skaters, as it only required several skaters with a grain scoop (shovel) to get the job done good enough for some games of tag or just learning to master the ice skate.

Remember the double-bladed skates for the little ones? Some of you readers may even remember the days of clip-on ice skates worn over shoes, or maybe even overshoes or other winter foot apparel. Some of you may have enjoyed an impromptu game of ice hockey, using whatever resource was available for a hockey puck.

Maybe the down side was that there was not any safety equipment used, but maybe we just had guardian angels watching over us, as I don’t remember too many serious accidents, even though we did “crack the whip” many times, using vehicles rather than today’s 4-wheelers.

Things do change, we just skate in different environments anymore. Dig out those skates, sharpen up the blades, and give it a whirl.