The Winter Olympics are underway for the next two weeks, and northwest Arkansas’ sole ice rink is seeing a spike in traffic. Jeff Poole is the director of programming at the Jones Center, which offers skating, hockey and even curling opportunities for the community.
He spoke with Ozarks at Large’s Daniel Caruth last week about the uptick in interest this winter, and says when they built the ice rink decades ago, nobody thought anything would come of it.
Jeff Poole: And over the 30 years, we have added hockey, figure skating, curling and so much more. Honestly, our rink is one of our most programmed spaces. It’s busy from about five in the morning till about 11:30 at night, just about every day of the week.
Daniel Caruth: Yeah. So talking about some of those programs that you’ve added and events that you’ve added to the rink, can you talk a little bit about the programs that are available, what you offer, and sort of how something like curling got added onto that list?
Poole: Yeah. So we offer, you know, one of our core programs is our Learn to Skate program that happens four days a week. That is, people start all the way in Snowplow Sam, for the 3- to 4-year-olds, and move all the way up to Basic 6 and into freestyle. And that’s a range of people who are doing it for fun—adults—you know, some of our pre-teens to teens that are competing in competitions. So it really runs the gamut.
And then of course we have hockey. Hockey goes—we have NWAHA, which is the Northwest Arkansas Hockey Association. They’re one of our partners. They run all of our youth hockey. And then we have JKL, which is our men’s recreational league. And so we have three levels: A level, B level and C level. And I mean, those guys are here every Saturday, Sunday, late at night on Thursdays. They do everything they can to get their games in.
And then of course, we have curling. Being the only sheet in town, we knew that it was important to have curling. We just had our ice redone and we added a fourth sheet. So we actually have four curling lanes now. And we have an amazing curling expert named Mark Curtis who comes in and kind of runs those curling events, whether it be open curling or like a learn to curl event like we’re having tonight.
Caruth: Yeah. Well, curling specifically, I think it’s one of those events that people are really curious about. They don’t really understand it. It really only comes up—people think about it—at least here—once every four years. So what’s been sort of the response, and how are people receiving it, and what’s the excitement around it, I guess, here in northwest Arkansas?
Poole: Lots of excitement. So we put the event on sale and I believe it sold out in less than an hour. So every ticket was gone. People are clearly—it’s something people want. I think curling is one of those sports that feels like an everyman sport. You look at that sport on TV and you go, I could do that, right? This is one of the ones I could do. I can’t run fast or I can’t do the ski jump, but I could definitely slide that stone.
I can just tell you, as someone who’s done it, it is much harder than it looks, a little bit like bowling. Anybody can be an OK bowler, but to be a really good bowler, it takes skill and hard work and all the dedication.
We actually have an Olympian here. His name is Dominic, and he was an Olympic curler a couple of years ago. And truly, the six months before the games that he competed in, he was in the Jones Center every morning for two hours curling. So it truly is, like everything else, it is a real hand-eye coordination kind of game that takes a lot of practice and just a lot of feel.
Caruth: Well, so that sort of leads me to the next question, like, who is coming to the rink? Is there a target demographic you are trying to reach to get into the ice rink, or who are you attracting to this? Is it everybody across the board? Does it surprise you who comes out and wants to take part in these programs? Who’s there?
Poole: Yeah, it really is. I would say it cuts across all swaths of northwest Arkansas, whether it be Bentonville, Fayetteville, Springdale, Lowell, whether it be people on a higher socioeconomic bracket, people lower, all nationalities. I would say, because we’re the only ice rink in town, northwest Arkansas has so many transplants from other places that they literally ask, you know, is there a rink in your town before they move here from Minnesota or from Chicago or from these places?
And so, you know, for a lot of these folks, the rink has been their third place their whole life, going to skate, taking classes, and they want that for their kids. And so a lot of what we see is, you know, hockey dads with a 3-year-old being like, he’s going to be a hockey player someday. And that thing of what was a tradition for them where they’re from, and it’s continued to be a tradition here once they’ve moved to northwest Arkansas.
I think it’s a real selling point for the area. And I think it’s something that we offer that no one else does. This thing that you’ve grown up on so long.
It’s a really good mix down there of people who have been skating their whole life and people, you know, like me, who only skated once every three years in a Tulsa mall and now works at the Jones Center and gets to take classes and actually kind of learn to do it. So it’s a really neat mix.
Caruth: Yeah. Well, so for people out there who maybe, you know, adults who have only skated a few times in their life, you know, and they want to come out and try it out. Are there opportunities for people who are maybe a bit nervous or don’t really know what they’re doing on the ice, opportunities for them to learn what to do?
Poole: One hundred percent, yeah. We have our adult Learn to Skate program. That’s on Tuesdays at 10 a.m. and Thursdays at 6 p.m. I will just say during Olympic season, those classes fill up very fast. So if it’s something you’re really interested in, sign up now or wait until the summer when it calms down.
But we have a lot of adults who are there, and we have a wide range of adults, from people who work from home who just kind of wanted to find a fun activity to do during the day to people who have competed in adult division competitions and are still looking to bring that competitiveness to their life. So it really ranges across all skill levels.
Caruth: Are there any other events that are coming up in the next couple of weeks, or things that you want to promote or let people know about?
Poole: So we have another curling event that we’re planning for March. We’re still working out some of the logistics, but once that is done, we’ll have that on the website. So if people want to learn to curl, there will be an opportunity.
And then if people are thinking about coming to the rink, what’s some information they should know? Is there any dress code, any cost, price, anything that people need to know, times as well.
Poole: So public skate is Tuesdays and Thursdays from 12 p.m. to 2:45 p.m., and then Fridays from 12 p.m. to 2:45 p.m., 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Saturdays, 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. And then Sundays are 1 p.m. to 2:45 p.m.
But I will always just say check the website. We have a lot of Razorback hockey. We’re also the home rink of the University of Arkansas Razorback hockey team. They have three teams, two men’s teams and a women’s team. So especially this time of year, there’s a lot of hockey games going on on Friday nights and Saturdays, sometimes even Sundays. So we really ask that you check the website before you come out. That way you get the best information.
Skating is $8 plus $4 for skate rental, and all the other curling and hockey for like a day pass are $10. The Jones Center truly is a place where there’s something cool happening every day. And so I highly recommend you check the website, get on the email list, and come and see us.
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