Nov 14

Nov 14 City funding to bring Iceland back as year-round skating venue on Del Paso Boulevard

Sacramento, CA (Nov. 14, 2023) - The historic Iceland Ice Skating Rink, nearly destroyed in a 2010 arson fire, will be restored and reopened year-round through investments approved by the City Council Tuesday.

City Council members voted unanimously to issue a $1.28 million forgivable loan that will be used to install a pre-fabricated roof over the North Sacramento skating rink, a fixture on Del Paso Boulevard since it opened in 1940. Another $125,000 loan would be used to restore the building’s art deco façade and its neon signage.

Amanda Wallace, an economic development project manager with the city, said the non-profit entity that leases Iceland expects to attract about 50,000 skaters a year. As a condition of the loan, it will need to meet certain metrics, including maintaining the rink in good condition, being open for skating at least 2,000 hours a year and offering free lessons to at least 250 residents of Council District 2.

Mayor Darrell Steinberg said the assistance to Iceland is an example of how the city has continued to invest in improving neighborhoods through Measure U and federal Covid relief funds.

“We have managed over these past six or seven years to find the right balance between funding city services and investing in our community,” Mayor Steinberg said. “This is a great example of that.”

Former City Councilmember Rob Kerth, whose family owns Iceland, came to the Council Tuesday, thanking them for “returning to Sacramento the year-round thrill of ice skating.”