AUBURN – An ice skating benefactor is donating ice time at Ingersoll Arena for school students during vacation week.

The ice rink will open daily each morning next week for Auburn students beginning Monday.

The first session, from 8:30 to 10 a.m., will be devoted to younger kids, those in kindergarten through third grade. Students in fourth through sixth grades will have the ice from 10:15 to 11:45 a.m.

It leads directly into the city’s own public skating sessions, from noon to 2 p.m. daily. During that time period, rink fees will be $3 for adults and $2 for seniors and students through high school.

The free ice time replaces a popular free Wednesday afternoon skate program that ended last year, according to Auburn Parks and Recreation Director Pete Bushway.

The same benefactor, Auburn resident George Roy, donated ice time for Auburn students on half-day Wednesdays for several years. He stopped that program last year when the schools stopped providing bus transportation to the ice rink.

“He’s just a guy who’s a big advocate of kids getting out and doing something,” Bushway said. “He doesn’t make a big deal out of it. He just makes it happen.”

This is the first year Roy decided to donate vacation-week ice time.

“It’s kind of a combination,” Bushway said. “He had made the offer, and we had ice time available in the mornings. It all worked out nicely.”

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