- It’s a great gathering spot for the community
- It’s good for health
- It’s a place for memories
Global Synthetic Ice has been building indoor and outdoor community ice-skating rinks since the 1990s. For example, we build outdoor ice rinks in community parks, in city centers and even in local shopping center parking lots during the holiday season. For a community, the outdoor ice rink is a little different than the indoor rink; it tends to be more of a social, less competitive, and more relaxing environment.
The importance of informal, public gathering places has been perfectly described by Ray Oldenburg, an urban sociologist, writes in his book “The Great Good Place” about the. He believes “Life without community has produced, for many, a lifestyle consisting mainly of a home-to-work-and-back-again shuffle. Social well-being and psychological health depend upon community and the ‘third places.’” Whether in an urban city center or suburban neighborhood, an ice rink is a great place for like-minded people to socialize and connect.
Another good reason is that outdoor recreation, like ice skating, has health benefits.
- Ice skating reduces stress.
- It also improves an individual’s aerobic, cardiovascular and muscular fitness.
- In addition, the sunlight and physical activity found at ice rinks have been shown to relax and cheer people up.
- Spending time at an ice rink even helps people be more productive at work and in school.
Given the choice to ice skate indoors or outdoors, many people will choose to skate outdoors. In many cases, skating outside reminds adults of when they were kids, skating on the local ponds — perhaps playing pickup hockey, a game of pom pom pull away or meeting someone for a date. Fond memories are strong at ice rinks.
So, it seems there is not a downside to the increasing number of outdoor ice rinks being built and maintained.
Quality of life.
Every year brings with it a new list of the top places to live and work, with one of the major categories being quality of life. That’s what we’re really talking about here. An outdoor ice rink improves a community’s quality of life.