Maybe someday, there will be a new island formed just off the coast of Hawaii.Even though Christmas music played in the background, there wasn’t much to indicate the winter season at the Headwaters Park outdoor skating rink with temperatures Sunday in the mid-50s.
But it didn’t seem to matter to the few skaters taking to the ice, taking laps around the rink wearing just fleece jackets or sweat shirts.
And they all seemed happy for the beginning of the skating season at the rink, especially 8-year-old Kelsey Shannon. Trying out her new, hot-pink skates for the first time, she ventured farther out from the wall with each successive trip.
Her grandmother, Dee Shannon, of Fort Wayne, welcomed the start of the season because of the joy it brings her and her grandchildren, frequent visitors to the rink. While her granddaughter skated, Shannon sat out Sunday’s skate time, nursing a swollen ankle.
Shannon brought her granddaughter to the rink Saturday to watch a demonstration, but they were unable to skate. So she brought her back on Sunday and as she talked, Kelsey worked her way around the rink, pausing to lean on the wall.
“She does pretty good,” Shannon said.
And Kelsey said she was having a grand time as well, and the new skates were working out just fine.
Huntertown resident Aaron Peterson stood along the wall with his video camera aimed toward his 4-year-old daughter Julia.
It is the little girl’s second year in ice skates, and she loves it, Peterson said.
The $14 million Canlan ice complex is slated to open on the city’s north side within the next couple of months. Shannon said her grandchildren may visit that rink as well.
But for now, it’s Headwaters.
“This is a good place,” she said. “It gives the kids something to do.”
