Fundraising continues for ice skating rink

In two weeks, Sallisaw’s first-ever ice skating rink — albeit temporary — will be in place at Stage Park at the corner of Choctaw Avenue and Oak Street, ready for an anticipated onslaught of eager holiday skaters.

To be sure, it’s crunch time for Josh Rogers and Sallisaw Main Street, which is sponsoring the city’s Christmas focal point to ensure all is merry and bright.

While Rogers takes an optimistic approach to efforts to raise the needed $35,000 — “we’re almost halfway there” — time is running short to ensure there’s enough money to satisfy the ob- ligation of bringing the ice skating rink to the downtown district.

Downtown merchant and Sallisaw Main Street administrative assistant Carol Brown says current funding has come from nine donors … so far.

But Rogers believes there are plenty of others who could help financially.

“We encourage people who are considering giving a donation, now is the time to do it,” Rogers says. “We’ve been paying already on everything, so now’s the time to go ahead and do it. And it’s a good tax write-off at the end of the year.

“It’s solely a Main Street project, so we’re looking for financial sponsors,” Rogers says. “Of course, Main Street is paying for it, but the more sponsors we get, the more extra activities we can have in the downtown. We’re looking at having events — could even be live music or could be live reindeer, something different on the weekends, maybe even looking at some carriage rides — but the more financial support we get from the community, the more we’ll be able to bring to the downtown.

“Anyone in the community can donate. You can donate as little as $1. It could just be a family in town that wonders what they can do to help, and maybe they want to donate $25. That helps, $25 helps. If everybody in town gave $25, the rink would be paid for. It’s the people that make these things work. Everything counts,” Rogers says.

Those who donate before Dec. 1 will have their name included on a donors’ banner, which will be on display at the ice skating rink during December.

Those wanting to donate or volunteer should call Brown at 918-776-7920. Be sure to stipulate that the donation is for the ice skating rink, Rogers says.

The fundraiser features seven different sponsorship levels:

• Partner — $1-$499

• Bronze — $500-$999

• Silver — $1,000-$1,499

• Gold — $1,500-$2,499

• Platinum — $2,500-$4,999

• Diamond — $5,000-$9,999

• Black Diamond — $10,000+

Donations go toward the expense of the rink, insurance and costs directly associated with providing the rink. Any overage will be used for additional holiday experiences.

“Really, on something like this, it’s the people that make this work,” Rogers says. “We can do all the work for it, but if people don’t come and support the downtown and support local and shop local, this doesn’t work. So the more people that come and support it — with all of our events — the more events we’ll be able to do.”

But while cold, hard cash is a priority, warm, willing bodies are the next most important.

“We’re also looking for volunteer groups and organizations that want to take on working the rink different weekends. Of course, Main Street will be facilitating the activity, but we need different groups to come out and volunteer. No one’s getting paid for this. We will charge [admission], and the money will go back to support the Main Street organization to help cover the costs of doing more for the downtown, so we’re looking for people who are interested in volunteering,” Rogers says.

“It can be anything from a youth group, a church group; it can be a bank, it can be an organization, a business — people that wanna come out and just volunteer for a night.” Rogers says there will be about 20 slots during December that need to be filled to accept money for admission and check out ice skates.

Schedule released

A schedule for the monthlong skating opportunity has been released, with two sessions for Thursdays and Fridays, and three sessions for Saturdays. Sundays are reserved for private rental.

All three days — Thursday through Saturday — will feature sessions from 5 to 6:40 p.m. and 7 to 8:40 p.m., but an additional Saturday afternoon session from 3 to 4:40 p.m. will be available.

Cash-only cost per session is $5, but an armband for unlimited skating is available for $8.

Children age 12 and under must be accompanied by an adult at all times, Rogers notes.

“We’ve never had an ice skating rink in town before,” he says, almost giddy with excitement. “People are gonna be really excited about that.”

Why ice skating?

Pointing out that Sallisaw Main Street sponsors and coordinates a lot of events each year for Sallisaw’s downtown business district, Rogers says the question arose about what the organization might do in the wintertime to increase activity in the downtown area.

“In the wintertime, there’s not a lot going on in the downtown,” Rogers says. “We talked to the city, and asked them what we could do for the downtown as far as events. They said that December seems like a time in the downtown when there’s not a lot going on. So what can we do to bring more people into the downtown area? That’s when we landed on an ice skating rink. The dream of that became a reality quickly.

“After doing some research and pricing, we saw that it was going to be feasible. So we pulled the trigger on it, and we’ve got the rink rented, so we’re excited about that. We’ve paid our deposit, so it’s for sure happening,” he says.

Sallisaw Main Street has partnered with Sasquatch Printing to launch the community fundraiser to offset costs of the monthlong venture.

“Main Street took on the responsibility of this, but Main Street is a non-profit, of course, funded by the community, businesses, business leaders, just community people,” Rogers reminds. “And we believe the community will come together. People want to see things in Sallisaw in the downtown area.

“All this is growth. So the ice skating rink is something that people can come and bring their whole family.”

Rogers says the same company that provides the ice rinks in Fort Smith and Van Buren will provide the Sallisaw rink.