As a member of the Urban Ecology Center, one of the great perks you have that you can borrow a variety of adventure equipment for your family and friends. This Equipment Lending benefit allows you to have adventurous experiences in our urban parks or wherever you wish to go! While you can borrow snowshoes and cross-county skis at any branch, Washington Park has something unique -- ice skates! And one of the places you can try out our skates is on the Washington Park lagoon; that is, when the ice is thick enough. But how thick is enough?

I have a lot of memories that were made on the Washington Park Lagoon. The most memorable has to be when I totally slayed in ice hockey my first time ever playing! Okay, I didn’t really slay - I survived in style. While I tell you about it, I’ll throw in some facts about a cool opportunity available to you at the Urban Ecology Center at Washington Park.

Many times, members have shared with me their fond memories of ice skating on the Washington Park Lagoon while growing up. Having accessible skating in their neighborhoods was a huge part of many people’s childhoods. It was an important part of my childhood, too! I walked to a local park to go ice skating. Providing that service to the Washington Park neighborhood is something that we take great pride in as an organization.