A new community ice rink is under construction in Holland, and local officials believe it will be another selling point for meeting planners looking to schedule events in the West Michigan seaside community.
The rink is near the Haworth Hotel, which has 10,000 square feet of meeting space, as well as the Holland Civic Center Plaza, which can accommodate 1,500 people, said Matt VanDyken, Holland Assistant City Manager. “(Attendees) want something to do after the event,” he said. “We see it as another tool in the toolbox for people who want to come here and attend meetings.”
The new Holland Ice Rink has been a concern of the community for several years. Several years ago, local resident and retired teacher Frank Kraai donated $100,000 to raise funds for the project, but that was not enough to fund the Holland Ice Rink, which is expected to cost about $11 million.
Kraai then met with his financial advisor and realized he had amassed $1 million in savings. He also immediately donated the money in hopes of fulfilling his long-held dream of building a Dutch ice rink.
“That really kicked off the project,” Van Dyken said. “We started seriously doing more planning and figuring out what we wanted to do. At the same time, we did a more public fundraising campaign for the rink. … We raised more than half the cost of the project .”The balance will come from the city’s Capital Improvement Fund.
The Holland Rink, located in Waterfront Window Park at the corner of Sixth Street and College Avenue in downtown, will be open from Thanksgiving through April and has about 14,000 square feet of ice, including a small curling rink. Construction of the project has already begun. Construction is expected to be completed next fall.
“That location was chosen because we felt it needed to be very close to downtown,” VanDyken explained. “People can go downtown, enjoy the social area, have dinner and then come down and skate.”
Dutch City Network
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