T-R PHOTO BY ROBERT MAHARRY A crew from Ricken Excavating works at the site of the future community ice rink in downtown Marshalltown at the southwest intersection of Center and Main streets. The rink is the result of a partnership between the Iowa Wild and MARSHALLTOWN Co., and Marshalltown Parks and Rec Director Geoff Hubbard expects it to be operational sometime in January.

Marshalltown residents were buzzing with excitement on Wednesday morning when dirt work began at the southwest intersection of Main and Center streets, and within the next month or so, an ice rink will be completed and ready for the public to enjoy.

Ricken Excavating of Melbourne had its machines going full bore Wednesday, and Con-Struct of Marshalltown donated dirt and hauled it to the site. Ziegler CAT also donated equipment.

The project is the result of a partnership between the Iowa Wild, a minor league affiliate of the NHL’s Minnesota Wild, and MARSHALLTOWN Company, which is serving as the sponsor of the team’s community rink program for the next three years. MARSHALLTOWN Director of Product Solutions and Customer Success Zach Stahlin explained that the roots of the collaboration were planted when some company employees attended a game and noticed the organization was using a product similar to their polar pusher snow shovel.

“We asked them ‘What’s it gonna take to get our polar pusher out there?’ And it kind of snowballed to a little bit of a bigger partnership of us wanting to get more involved,” Stahlin said. “It kind of grew, and it helped that they had something like this as far as the community aspect. It really helped drive this home.”

The finished rink will be the 11th in central Iowa, although most of the others have been in the suburbs of Des Moines before the Wild expanded to outlying cities like Newton, Grinnell and now Marshalltown. Iowa Wild VP of Business Operations Allie Korinek said the team is “particularly excited” about the collaboration with MARSHALLTOWN.

“The partnership between the Iowa Wild and MARSHALLTOWN Co. has been a joint effort with both entities sharing a commitment to community well-being and fostering a love for hockey in the state of Iowa. This collaboration has brought forth innovative and creative ideas, evident in the establishment of the newest community rink,” Korinek said. “Through partnerships with local parks and recreation departments as well as MARSHALLTOWN Co., we have been able to donate the necessary tools and supplies to establish these community rinks. Together, we strive to create a welcoming and inclusive environment for families to enjoy the experience of outdoor skating. We believe that by providing these free community rinks, we can inspire a love for the sport and bring the community together. We are grateful to all our partners and supporters who have helped us make this expansion possible and are excited to see the positive impact it will have on the families and communities we serve.”

Weather permitting, the hope is to have it fully operational by the beginning of the new year (Stahlin indicated that a ribbon cutting will also likely be held around that time), and the Parks and Recreation Department plans to install the structure next week and then waiting to pour the water until the 10-day forecast stays below freezing the whole time, according to Parks and Rec Director Geoff Hubbard.

“That will determine when we start filling it up, and then it’s up to Mother Nature to see how many days we get. If I had to guess right now, I’d say it’ll be January before we’ll have enough cold weather days to fill it up,” Hubbard said. “And then based on what some of the other rinks around the state have done, most of them are closing down sometime in March. If we could get 30 to 60 days of use out of it, I think that would be a good first year start.”

Hubbard, a Marshalltown native, said he couldn’t remember ever having a dedicated outdoor ice skating rink in the community, although there was skating at the Riverview Park lagoon in the past. He was also grateful for the partnership with the Wild and MARSHALLTOWN, estimating that building a rink from scratch without any assistance would likely cost the city between $30,000 and $50,000.

“For us to be able to get that from them, that’s great, and the fact that MARSHALLTOWN is partnering with the Iowa Wild on some things is kind of cool too. So we’ve got a local sponsor of them, which I think helped get us the rink,” Hubbard said. “So we’ll be getting her set up and then wait for Mother Nature to figure out when we can let people skate on it.”

MARSHALLTOWN Company will be purchasing around 50 pairs of skates that can be checked out from the Parks and Recreation office at city hall for a small rental fee of $2. The rink itself will be free and open to the public to use.

“It’s another opportunity for people to get out in the wintertime where a lot of us are kind of stuck at home,” Stahlin said.

Once it’s up and running, a red or green flag will be posted by the rink each day — green means it’s OK to skate, red that it’s too slushy and should be avoided. Currently, there are no plans to put up hockey goals as Hubbard noted that the location in the heart of downtown comes with its own set of challenges.

“I think the backboards are only three to four feet tall, so if someone misses a slapshot, that’s gonna go out into the road,” he said. “So I think for this first year we’re gonna test it out and see how things go, but it’ll probably be more for just normal skating. I mean, if someone wants to bring a puck and work on some stickwork and move around, do whatever, (that’s fine), but I don’t see us doing any hockey games.”