Boulder Junction ‘ice ribbon’ will offer safe, consistent, outdoor ice skating experience
Posted on December 20, 2024 | Keith Uhlig
Making The Glide Skating Ribbon in Boulder Junction largely has been a volunteer effort, done by people who have built a community around skating on the region’s lakes. There needs to be three solid inches of ice laid down before it can open for skaters. Photo provided by Tim “Fitz” Fitzgerald
BOULDER JUNCTION – When the idea first came up late last winter, everybody thought developing an ice skating trail in this Northwoods tourist town was a good idea.
Most people thought it would be a nice amenity for local people, said Steve Weber, a member of the Boulder Junction Park Board. It was like, “we’re going to do this for ourselves,” he said. “And see what we could do for the town.”
But as they got further along in developing what they would end up calling The Glide Ice Skating Ribbon, a 10-foot wide skating pathway about eight-tenths of a mile long, the more attention it got. As developers are on the cusp of opening the skating trail at the town’s Winter Park, they are finding the project has gone viral, generating interest across the entire state and beyond.
“All of a sudden, it’s become a ‘if you build it, they will come’ kind of deal,” Weber said.
But first, they have to get it built. That requires cold weather, Weber said, with temperatures below 20 degree for an extended period of time. As of Tuesday, he wasn’t seeing a forecast he liked, with highs close to 30 degrees and even above freezing. Maybe, if the weather goes their way, he said, the ribbon could open for skating by the end of December.
How did the idea for Boulder Junction’s ice skating trail come about?
Another member of the Boulder Junction Park Board brought the skating trail idea to the group after his wife saw some online videos of Canadian ice trails. Members started watching the videos and eventually reaching out to administrators at Arrowhead Provincial Park, which is about a three hour drive north of Toronto.
Canadian park administrators were helpful and enthusiastic about Boulder Junction making its skating ribbon. The Boulder Junction group learned that some of the equipment they would need included a tank to spread water on the trail for freezing and a machine for resurfacing the ice, such as a Zamboni, which elevates the experience.
The Boulder Junction group agreed that a cross-country ski trail that connects to the town’s Winter Park ice rink would be a perfect skating venue. Nobody really used the trail for skiing, Weber said, because it was flat, short by skiing standards and there are a lot of other more attractive ski trails nearby. But they determined the trail would be great for ice skating and moved ahead on making that happen.
Weber said the town was able to put a water tank on a trailer quickly and at a low cost. But a ice resurfacer, a small one that can be affixed to a tractor, cost about $15,000. The town paid for one using hotel room taxes along with a $5,000 grant from the Boulder Junction Community Foundation. The Community Foundation made a Facebook post in mid-October about the donation and that’s when the ice ribbon went viral, Weber said.
That’s when the phone started ringing at the Boulder Junction Chamber of Commerce.
Boulder Junction’s ice ribbon hits on a ‘wild skating’ trend
Social media posts about Boulder Junction’s ice skating ribbon likely have reached “hundreds of thousands of people,” said Mary Jones, the executive director of the Boulder Junction Chamber of Commerce. “And people are definitely excited.”
People have been regularly phoning the Chamber office, Jones said, to find out if the ribbon has opened yet. “It’s not just people from around here, it’s people from all over. All over the state and even some neighboring states, too,” Jones said.
Why is interest in skating through the woods so intense? “There’s a renewed interest in being outside lately,” she said. She is an ice skater herself, and is among the crowd of people eagerly awaiting the opening of the ribbon.
“Picture a walk through the woods, but you’re on skates,” Jones said. “It’s just a new outdoor opportunity, a new perspective on the outdoors.”
Count Tim “Fitz” Fitzgerald, 64, of nearby Winchester as among those excited to skate on the ribbon. So excited, that he’s volunteering to build the ice path, pulling the water tank behind his personal vehicle.
Fitzgerald is a long-time ice skater, and a leader of a Facebook group called Wild Ice Skating Explorers. He and fellow skaters can be found, when conditions are right, skating for miles on northern Wisconsin lakes. Many see that as a risky pastime, but Fitzgerald and others in the group mitigate their risks by constantly checking the ice and wearing safety equipment such as helmets and personal flotation devices.
The ribbon will give people who aren’t comfortable skating on lake ice a chance to feel the sensation of skating longer distances through the landscape, rather than circling on rinks. And maybe it can serve as a venue for ice skating gatherings and events, Fitzgerald said.
“I’m a wild ice skater and explorer, but that’s very temporary,” because snowfall can squash skating opportunities, Fitzgerald said. The ribbon will offer a consistent and high-quality experience, he said.
“This (the skating trail) will seem fast because you’ll have the sensation of zipping through the woods,” Fitzgerald said. “It’ll seem faster than wild skating.”
Keith Uhlig has been writing about Wisconsin, its people and all it has to offer since 2000. Raised in Colby, he loves wandering around the state. He can be reached at kuhlig@gannett.com, and is on Facebook, X and Threads.