It’s open! It’s open! Ice skating season is open! The ice skating rink at One Boulder Plaza (13th street between Walnut and Canyon) is now open for business and ready to rent you time and skates. Yay!

The annual “Light Up The Ice” hooplah…

…will be Friday next, the 24th. That’s sort of like the Grand Opening for the rink. It comes right after the downtown “Switch on the Holidays” lighting ceremony at the courthouse, and kicks off with an ice show (6 to 6:30 PM) followed by a heavily discounted public skate session ($3 admission / $1 skate rental) that persists until closing time (10 PM).

And, er, this flier I’m looking at says that… *ahem* …”Tweedles, the #1 Elf from the North Pole[,] will be at the rink to entertain with spectacular balloon creations that are free for guests.”

I’m not entirely sure that the skating discount is worth risk of exposure to Tweedles. Tweedles could be catching. And they’re bound to be playing Christmas songs, which I try to limit my intake of. You know, to avoid early oversaturation. (Right now this minute they’re playing classic rock, which is much more my style. I skipped over there to the tune of Boston’s “More Than A Feeling” when I went to pick up these fliers.) But knowing me, I’ll probably be there anyway just to make sure I A) get out on the rink at least once this season, and B) save money.

One way in which this year will be different from last is, Johnny’s Cigar Bar moved in next door to the Ice Rink. And this may cause a slight conflict. Now that the Ice Rink is all set up–and I’d take a picture to show you, but my camera’s on the blink at the moment–the close juxtaposition of the cigar bar’s outside smoking area and the ice rink’s outside skate-putting-on area just looks like A Situation Waiting To Happen. I wonder if the cigar bar customers will be asked not to smoke at the outside smoking area for the duration of the skating season (until Feb. 19)?