Walnut Creek on Ice calls itself a 21-year tradition, but the first sheet of ice went down in Civic Park in 2005, which makes this the 22nd winter since. The difference comes from the 2020 season, which never happened. The rink also has no permanent home. Every November a crew builds it from nothing on ground that serves another purpose the rest of the year, and every January it comes down again.
That temporary build explains almost everything about the rink people will skate on starting Friday, November 20. The location, the tent, the pricing, the sponsors and the slide all trace back to a simple fact. Walnut Creek has run a major outdoor rink for two decades without ever owning a rink.
Two Tennis Courts Next to the Old Library
In its first seasons the rink sat on the Civic Park tennis courts. In November 2007 the East Bay Times described how the ice was made then. Crews laid thin layers of water across two tennis courts and froze them with air coolers, and a compressor held the surface between 6 and 18 degrees. That season's rink covered 9,500 square feet and held about 300 skaters. The paper put the cost at $500,000 and named Longs Drugs as the primary sponsor. Mayor Sue Rainey and City Council members attended the opening ceremony. The Walnut Creek Downtown Business Association and the Chamber of Commerce had partnered to bring the rink back for what the paper called its third season.
That third season was also the last one on the tennis courts. Two weeks before it opened, the East Bay Times reported that the city planned to replace the old downtown library with a 42,000-square-foot, two-story library and an underground parking garage. The project carried a $46 million price tag, and the new library was expected to open in April 2010. The rink was operating "on the site of the new library" for the last time that winter. Barry Gordon, then the city's director of arts, recreation and community services, told the paper that a committee was looking at temporary sites for 2008, including a parking lot next to the ceramics building in the park.
The library project moved more than the rink. The Farmers Market, which had used the library parking lot for 25 years, moved to North Locust Street in January 2008.
From Tennis Courts to a Parking Lot
The move changed how the ice was made. By 2012 the rink had relocated within Civic Park to the parking lot. In its coverage of the eighth season, the East Bay Times described a frame and a network of pipes laid on the asphalt, with antifreeze running through the pipes to a cooling system and water added on top. The current rink lists a 64-by-100-foot skating surface, or 6,400 square feet.
Most of the rink's later features respond to the same constraint. It is outdoors, it is temporary, and it has to earn its keep in about eight weeks.
| Season | What changed | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Rink debuts on the Civic Park tennis courts | East Bay Times, 2007 |
| 2007 | Last season on the tennis courts, which were part of the planned library site | East Bay Times, 2007 |
| 2011 | Special Ice takes over as contractor, and a large tent goes up so the rink can stay open on rainy days | East Bay Times, 2012 |
| 2013 | A snow-making machine is the season's one new feature | Patch, 2013 |
| 2020 | No season | East Bay Times, 2021 |
| 2021 | Rink returns as the "16th annual" | East Bay Times, 2021 |
| 2024 | The 90-foot ice slide is billed as new | Walnut Creek on Ice tickets, 2024–25 |
| 2026 | 21st season opens November 20 | Walnut Creek Downtown |
The tent still matters. It was added so the rink could stay open on rainy days, and the 2026 announcement still describes the rink as covered.
Why the Ticket Has Never Paid for the Rink
A rink rebuilt every year is expensive. In 2012 Jay Hoyer, then president of the Walnut Creek Chamber of Commerce, put the cost of building and running it at $550,000 to $600,000 a season. He told the East Bay Times that the previous year had been a big success after a few years of not breaking even, and he gave much of the credit to the new vendor, Special Ice. He was also direct about where the money came from:
"If we relied on the $15 skate fee there's no way we could do it. It takes a combination of the skaters, the skate classes and the sponsors."
That three-part model still holds. The Ice-Skating Academy and hockey classes continue this season. The rink's sponsor page lists Mechanics Bank as the sponsor of the slide, Frosty's Summit, alongside sponsors for other rink features. It also counts more than 40,000 skaters and 60,000 spectators a season. Hoyer's 2012 estimate was very close. He expected at least 40,000 skaters and roughly twice that many spectators, and said most of them would eat or shop somewhere downtown.
That last point explains why downtown businesses back the rink. Walnut Creek Downtown, which manages the downtown Business Improvement District, presents the rink with the City of Walnut Creek. Its nonprofit partner, Community Partnership for Walnut Creek Downtown, supports the rink along with the Locust Street Festival and Oktoberfest. The people who come to skate or watch are the foot traffic downtown businesses are counting on during the holidays.
The ticket format has changed since 2012. Back then, $15 bought all-day admission and skate rental. This season, skating and the ice slide each cost $20 per person for a 90-minute session, combo tickets start at $20, and the rink accepts only digital payment. Timed sessions let a rink of fixed size sell the same ice several times a day.
The Slide Shows What the Rink Wants to Be
After nearly two decades of small changes, the 90-foot ice slide arrived in the 2024–25 season. Today it sells its own $20 ticket, separate from skating. In this year's announcement on Contra Costa News, the organizers bill Walnut Creek on Ice as the Bay Area's only outdoor ice rink and ice slide. The slide and the fire pits both give people something to do besides skate laps, which matters for a rink that counts spectators in its attendance figures.
Programs for younger children have grown along the same lines. Littles Skates return on Wednesday mornings, and one session includes a visit from Santa. In January 2025, Walnut Creek Arts + Rec and Walnut Creek Downtown jointly hosted a free sensory-friendly session with softer lights and sound.
Kathy Hemmenway leads the downtown group that presents the rink. In the Contra Costa News announcement, she described the rink's long run this way: "After 21 years, we've seen kids grow up on this ice and come back with families of their own." In 2012, Special Ice manager Emery Lykins described the same thing early on. He told the East Bay Times about one skater who had never skated before the rink opened and now came about 50 times a year.
The 2026–27 Season, Day by Day
The rink is scheduled to run from Friday, November 20, 2026, through Monday, January 18, 2027, at Civic Park, 1365 Civic Drive. Hours change with the school calendar. The rink treats November 21 to 30 and December 19 to January 4 as holiday periods.
- Monday to Thursday, regular weeks: 4 to 7:30 p.m.
- Friday, regular weeks: 4 to 10:30 p.m.
- Weekdays during holiday periods: 10 a.m. to 9:30 p.m.
- Saturday: 11 a.m. to 10:30 p.m.
- Sunday: 11 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.
- Thanksgiving, November 26: 6 to 9:30 p.m.
- Christmas Eve: 10 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.
- Christmas Day: 2 to 9:30 p.m.
- New Year's Eve, New Year's Day and MLK Day: 10 a.m. to 9:30 p.m.
Because regular weeknight hours end at 7:30 p.m., the week of Thanksgiving and the stretch after December 19 offer the most daytime skating.
Opening Night Shares Civic Park With the Tree
On November 20 the rink opens on the same night as the Civic Park Holiday Tree Lighting. That event, presented by the City of Walnut Creek and Walnut Creek Downtown, runs from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. It is free and includes cocoa, carolers and Frosty the Snowman. Last year's lighting was held on Friday, November 21, 2025, so the event keeps its spot on the Friday before Thanksgiving week.
Broadway Plaza holds its own celebration two weeks later. The Holiday Parade of Lights and Tree Lighting is set for Thursday, December 3, from 6 to 8 p.m. across Broadway Plaza, with a parade, music and Santa leading the tree lighting. Downtown has two tree lightings, one in Civic Park and one at the shopping center, and the Civic Park lighting falls on the rink's opening night.
The rink has changed ground once, swapped its ice-making method and added a tent and a slide, but its season still begins in the same park with the same tree. This year that is tomorrow evening, Friday, November 20, at 5:30 p.m. in Civic Park.
If a winter evening at Civic Park is part of your own routine and you are wondering what your home is worth this winter, Jill Fusari offers a confidential home valuation, with discreet, local guidance whenever you want it.
