Sharpen Those Skates! Bowdoin Park Ice Rink is Open

Time to get those ice skates sharpened. A Dutchess County park has officially opened its seasonal ice skating rink.

For the last few weeks, Dutchess County residents have been waiting for Bowdoin Park to announce the opening of its free skating rink. At the beginning of December 2021, the staff at Bowdoin asked for patience as they worked to entail the safest environment for ice skaters.

But most importantly, it needed to be a little colder. Bowdoin Park staff wrote in December:

Mother Nature has a lot of work to do for ice conditions to be safe and ready for skating.

Well, Mother Nature got the message. Fridged temperatures have landed in the Hudson Valley. It's about to dip real low this weekend. Hudson Valley Weather is reporting a low of 2 Friday night, January 14th. And we have a "snowstorm on steroids" allegedly heading towards the Hudson Valley. This makes for perfect ice rink conditions.

Bowdoin Park shared fantastic news this week on Facebook:

YES, the skating rink at Bowdoin Park is OPEN for use! Huge thanks goes out to the park staff for their hours of work over the past days to get the surface safe and ready for skating.

There are a few rules when visiting the rink. Skaters must bring their own skates and they are required if they want to get on the ice. Helmets are recommended and hockey sticks are prohibited.

Weather conditions determine whether or not the rink opens so make sure to follow Bowdoin Park and Dutchess County Parks on social media for the latest. With all the snow Sunday into Monday there may be some changes in the schedule.

But hopefully, the snow and colder weather will keep the rink solid for the next few weeks and maybe we'll see the infamous sledding hill open to the public too.