FARMINGTON — It has taken four attempts but temperatures finally dropped enough to start an ice base for the Dick Williams Memorial Skating Rink at the Hippach Field on Thursday morning.

The Farmington Recreation Department has received calls from anxious skaters checking on an opening date, but 50-degree temperatures have hampered efforts to ice over the rink, Farmington Recreation Director Steve Shible and Assistant Director Matt Foster said as they hosed down the rink Thursday morning.

They were going to continue the effort in the afternoon and a crew was expected to work Thursday night, according to Shible.

The rain this week helped, although the soil at the field dries out quickly, Foster said. It takes a lot of water to ice over the rink.

If the cold weather continues, they are hoping to open the rink next week, he added. Potential snow this weekend could raise havoc with the plan, but the delay is not for lack of trying. This is the fourth try to flood the rink and they have plowed and removed snow from the site a couple times, he said.

Once they open the rink, hours will be 10 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. The field house hours are posted outside the rink.

The rink won’t open until there is a safe covering of ice with no grass coming through that could trip skaters, Shible said.

The rink normally closes in early February. Although it’s still cold, the February sun melts the ice during the day, then it refreezes making it uneven and unsafe.

The department has completed work inside the field house bathroom in preparation for the skating season, Shible said. 

In past winters the facility tended to freeze but using about $2,000 from the Peter Mills Trust Fund, the bathroom has been insulated and heaters moved to keep it warm and available for skaters this year.

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