Coolest fun in town

About an hour after the KYRO Ice Arena opened for public skating Friday, about 80 men, women and children were circling the ice, lacing up skates or hanging around under the heaters.

Since it reopened in September after a two-year hiatus, the Coeur d’Alene skating rink has gradually added programs and is building locker rooms in preparation for hockey games. Also planned are a more efficient ice-cooling system and additional parking, said Vince Hughes, president of KYRO, the nonprofit corporation that owns the building and land. KYRO stands for Kootenai Youth Recreation Organization.

“We want to have affordable entertainment for families,” Hughes said.

Beginning Jan. 15, KYRO will offer hockey and skating lessons every Saturday. Public skating is offered on weekends, and weekday nights are occupied by hockey league practice, Hughes said. Open skate time costs $4 for adults and $3 for children. Skate rental costs $2. The hockey and skating lessons will cost $40 for six weeks, including equipment.

“All the parents have to do is bring the child down with a chin guard,” Hughes said of the hockey lessons. “We try to make it easy. It’s expensive to buy all that stuff then find out your child doesn’t like it.”

Steve Pierce, of Post Falls, who was skating with his children Friday, said he likes KYRO’s family-oriented atmosphere. Pierce said other rinks play music he finds inappropriate for young children, such as rap. At KYRO, Christmas music and folk songs were playing over the loudspeakers.

“It’s a great asset to the community,” Pierce said.

The rink is in the former site of Go-Kart Family Fun, along Seltice Way, just west of Northwest Boulevard. In the future, KYRO would like to build a second rink into the hillside closest to the highway.

KYRO board member Don Gary said ice rinks are expensive to operate because they require land close to town and costly equipment such as cooling machines and Zambonis for grooming. Commercial ice rinks cost a few million dollars to put together, Gary said. However, nonprofits are not bound by the same demands as a commercial enterprise, he said.

“We don’t have investors looking for a return on their dollar,” he said.

Hughes said KYRO has spent about $1 million on the land, enclosing the ice rink, constructing locker rooms, and other renovations and equipment. That money has come from loans and donations of money, materials and time, he said.

KYRO leased the rink and offered skating and hockey from 2000 to 2002. The organization enclosed the skating rink during that time and installed restrooms. Then KYRO decided to buy the rink, so the business was shut down for a couple of years until the sale was completed in September.