Board mulls downtown ice rink

Published 12:00 am Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Imagine strapping on a pair of skates and gliding around a frozen rink in downtown Vicksburg this holiday season.

Vicksburg Main Street Program Executive Director Kim Hopkins already has that idea — and for the past three months she’s been looking into bringing an ice skating rink to a vacant lot at Washington and Grove streets this winter.

“It would be the only ice-skating venue between here and Shreveport, and the next closest one would be in Alexandria, La.,” Hopkins told the downtown business development board members at a meeting Tuesday.

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The board’s initial reaction: Cool idea, but how much would it cost?

“That’s the bad news,” said chairman Harry Sharp.

For $98,000, Hopkins said Texas-based Modular Ice Rink Technologies would bring all the necessary equipment and ice skates to Vicksburg, set up the rink and take it down after a two-month lease. The cost would be less for a second year if Main Street agreed to keep the rink, but Hopkins didn’t have specifics. She said the city’s parks and recreation crew could assist with maintaining the rink, while Main Street would solicit sponsors to pay for the initial investment.

“Sponsorships would start at about $10,000, and we would try to sell it to big businesses here and in Jackson,” said Hopkins. “We would need to get a good number of sponsors on board before we could commit. If I can’t get it worked out this year, then I’d like to do it next year.”

Hopkins, who took over as director after Rosalie Theobald retired in October, said she got the idea during a March visit to Chicago with Sharp for the National Main Streets Conference. She said the rink would measure 55-by-48-feet, would likely be covered by a tent and could be open as long as the outside temperature does not exceed 80 degrees. The average high in Vicksburg during December and January is 60 degrees, but it’s not uncommon for the area to receive spates of unseasonable warmth.

“You can make money by selling tickets and operating a concession stand on site,” said Hopkins, estimating the cost to skate would be comparable to a movie ticket. “We might not make a profit on it during the first year, but probably by the second year we could.” 

The largest sponsor could have its logo featured at center ice, said Hopkins, and others would have advertisements located on the rink’s boards. Board members raised several concerns, including insuring the rink, security and staffing the concession stands and ticket booths — all of which Hopkins said still needs to be worked out in better detail.

“Somebody really needs to look into the numbers,” said Nancy Bell, one of three founding members of the 25-year-old organization. It would take about 16,400 people (to buy tickets) just to pay it off.”

“It sounds like we’d be getting into a business,” added Jerry Hall, another founding member. “This is a major undertaking.”

Sharp agreed, but said the ancillary benefits to downtown Vicksburg shops, restaurants, bars and hotels could make the investment worthwhile and place Vicksburg on the map as a regional holiday destination.

“This is still in the planning stages, but if Kim can pull it off it would be a wonderful thing for downtown,” he said. “Just think about the draw it would be to downtown. This is the type of thing we need to be thinking about.”

Mayor Laurence Leyens was supportive of the idea, said Hopkins, but she acknowledged she’ll need to discuss it with Paul Winfield — whose inauguration will be July 3 — to see if he would back it as well. Vicksburg and Warren County provide most Main Street funds, with the remainder raised by a tax added to downtown properties.

The rink would be located on a vacant parcel of land north of Highway 61 Coffeehouse that the city inherited from WMHS Downtown LLC in March after the local developer scrapped plans to build an upscale residential and commercial space.

Also Tuesday, the board approved a $250 sponsorship of the Vicksburg Blues Society, pending the society becoming a member of the Main Street program.

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Contact Steve Sanoski at ssanoski@vicksburgpost.com