Photo Credit: Courtesy of Jim Stroller / NiceRink
As budgets get tighter and available funds slow to a trickle, many parks departments are looking for ways to use existing space and facilities for more than one purpose.
The city of Barrington, Ill., took a basketball court and doubled it as an ice rink during the winter months after a city project threatened to swallow the parking lot where the rink was previously constructed.
“We looked at using a basketball court, but we were afraid of the residue,” says Stephen Nightingale, Superintendent of Parks & Facilities. City officials then discovered a conversion method that allowed them to turn the court into a temporary ice rink without disturbing the surface.