CLEVELAND — For the first time this season, the Halloran Park Skating Rink is open in Cleveland.

What You Need To Know

  • The Halloran Park Skating Rink opened in Cleveland this week after COVID-19 delays

  • Admission is free and skate rentals are $1
  • Halloran Park Skating Rink is located at 3550 W 117th St., Cleveland, OH 44111
  • To register for ice time, contact Halloran Park Skating Rink at 215-664-4187

“Glad to be back on the ice,” said hockey player Mike Miceli. “I started playing when I was 53 years old. So, I’ve been playing for three years and I just enjoy it.”

Miceli said COVID-19 canceled games and many rinks remain closed.

“A bummer of a year as far as hockey games,” he said.

Traditionally, the Halloran Park Skating Rink opens in November. COVID-19 is to blame for the delay this year.

Maryann Fields is the Halloran Recreation Center Manager.

“I love my job. I love the city. I love what we do and I love our rink,” Fields said.

Starting this week, the skating rink is open to the public from noon to 7:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.

But there are COVID-19 related changes, including masks, social distancing, and shorter open skate times to allow for more sanitation.

“Everybody has to pre-register prior to coming in. So that we are only allotted 10 skaters per session,” Fields said.

Halloran Park is historic.

It’s named after Ensign William Halloran, a neighborhood resident and journalist, who was killed in the attack on Pearl Harbor.

The rink first opened on Christmas Eve in 1959 and the roof was added in the 70s.

This is the only skating rink run by the city.

“I love that we offer this to the community and I don’t think there’s anywhere you can go that you can skate for free or rent a pair of skates for a dollar,” Fields said.

The city made several improvements to the skating rink while it was closed thanks to Ward 11 Councilman Brian Mooney’s discretionary funds.

“The city just invested a lot of money doing some major upgrades last year. You know for the concrete surface and the rink and then this year I made sure to set aside money to have the ice professionally done, striped, and install the players boxes, penalty boxes, and the scorekeeper boxes,” Mooney said.

He estimates the upgrades cost $30,000.

It’s now more hockey friendly, officials said.

“Our rink is now regulation. So, we can have high school games here. Prior to (the upgrades), our rink was a little shorter, they elongated it. So, we are a regulation rink. Now we can have high school hockey games. That’s what we plan to do in the future,” Fields said.

Due to the pandemic, the rink's free youth hockey program won't happen this year.

So, the "Halloran Huskies” have to sit out a season.

Despite it all, everyone there is just happy to be able to lace up their skates and get on the ice again.

“Come out and see us. Come and see what we got going on and we look forward to seeing you,” Fields said.

Coming this spring to the Halloran Park Skating Rink is a new hockey-themed tech-gaming room inside the facility, officials said.

The tech-gaming room was made possible by a $30,000 donation from the AHL Cleveland Monsters Foundation.