Summer Ice Skating Rink Set to Open at Navy Pier Park

Starting this Friday — and just in time for the Chicago round of the Louis Vuitton America’s Cup World Series regatta — Navy Pier will offer a chance to "Skate by Lake" at a semi-enclosed ice rink located in the newly-named Polk Bros Park. Operating daily from noon to 10:00 PM, the rink will charge a basic admission of $10 per person with skate rental will bumping the total to $15. While the rink is a temporary amenity added for the summer, a number of more permanent changes are on the way to the surrounding 13 acres of green space located just west of the pier proper.

Named in honor of a generous $20 million gift from the Polk Family, Navy Pier’s "front lawn" is slated to also receive a 12,500-square-foot play fountain as well as a pair of performance lawns to host live arts and culture events. The Polk Bros Park overhaul is one component of a much larger initiative to comprehensively transform Navy Pier as it celebrates its centennial anniversary this summer. Other upgrades include a new Ferris wheel, an Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill-designed expansion of Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, and a new hotel slated for the pier’s eastern end.

Navy Pier

Navy Pier

• Ice skating in the summer? Navy Pier to open outdoor rink this weekend [Chicago Tribune]
• Previous Navy Pier coverage [Curbed Chicago]