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Summit Daily photo
The Dillon Ice Castles might turn into a more permanent winter fixture at the Town Park as the town and company work through negotiations for a potential long-term agreement.
The 2019-20 iteration of the ice castles has been open in Dillon for less than two weeks, though leadership at the town and Ice Castles already are looking to the future to decide whether Dillon is the right location to continue to host the attraction in coming years. Past issues with the castles — including damage to the lawn and the amount of time they shut down other recreational opportunities at the park — mean it’s unclear whether they will return, especially with major park improvement projects on the horizon.
But Ice Castles representatives have made it clear they intend to open a location in the area next winter, whether it’s in Dillon or not. During the Dillon Town Council work session Tuesday evening, Ice Castles CEO Ryan Davis was in attendance to provide a presentation on new concepts that might allow the castles to remain on a portion of the park, which is considered the only real feasible site in town.
“As we’ve had discussions with (Public Works Director Scott O’Brien) … we’ve asked a lot of questions about what’s the ground going to be like, and what we think is going to happen with that lawn,” Davis said. “We’ve spent a lot of time in internal discussion of what our impact would be … and we’re coming to the conclusion that ice castles on this field probably is not a good idea.
“Where we’re at right now is we’re looking at other locations in Summit County because we intend to open next winter, and knowing this (new lawn) is going to be installed this summer puts us in an interesting place to figure out what we’re going to do. As part of that, we started looking at this park plan and figuring out if there was a way that we could mix what we’re doing into that without doing any damage to the multiuse field.”
The ice castles are certainly popular among business owners in the area, who say the attraction helps to drive new customers to their stores and restaurants. According to Davis, the castles have driven an average of almost 145,000 visitors to Dillon over the first two seasons they were in town (2017-18, 2018-19). Davis also noted a considerable economic impact in the area, estimating more than $10 million spent in the greater Summit community during the 2018-19 season as a result of the amenity, along with more than 275 million media impressions.
But the castles also have driven criticism from some residents in the area along with members of the town’s Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee because of damage to the park and concerns that the attraction is taking away potential for other park uses for too long during the season. In June, town officials signed off on $1.2 million in park improvements and recently completed a number of upgrades to roadways and parking lots surrounding the area. Improvements will continue later this year, with more than $1 million budgeted for a new multiuse field and playground, among other projects.
With concerns that the castles might prove counterintuitive to the community’s goals as new improvements go in — all based on the Town Park Master Plan adopted following substantial public input in 2014 — Ice Castles is hopeful that rearranging their designs in the future could ease worries surrounding damage while also allowing the company to stay at the park long-term.
Courtesy Summit Daily.
