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Skating On Synthetic Ice

Synthetic ice can bring skating to locations without refrigeration, offering lower operating demands while requiring careful product and site selection.

4 min read

Photo Credit: Courtesy of NiceRink

Want to bring the fun of an ice rink to your park, but don’t have the expertise for maintenance, the building to house it, or the money to pay the utility bills?

There is another option--fake ice--also known as synthetic ice. This new synthetic ice is a high-tech polymer plastic engineered to create a low-friction surface similar to that of real ice. Figure skaters, hockey players, and recreational skaters all can use the surface.

“The alternative ice skating-surface concept has been around for 30 years. Back then, it was primarily used for stage shows and was a surface to stand on with skates with silicone used as the lubricant,” says Don Mason, president of KwikRink in Minnesota. “Fast forward 30 years and synthetic ice is now a very realistic surface for advanced training.”