One-year-old Eli Wood and mama Carol inspect Fortuna’s new ice.

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Fortuna’s stock just went up. 

Friday morning, after a last-minute heroic community effort to undo damage done during a minor natural disaster, the Humboldt Ice Rink opened its slick surface to would-be Humboldt skaters. The temporary facility, located at Fortuna’s Newburg Park, is available for all of your Nancy Kerrigan-impersonating needs starting today and various days over the next six weeks through Jan. 17.

“I want to get as many kids out here as we can,” said Shawn Hobbs, a volunteer at the rink. Hobbs played two seasons for the Fresno Falcons, a minor league hockey team, back in the ’90s and said he’s thrilled that so many kids who have likely never ice skated before will have the opportunity to do so. 

“This is so great for this community,” Hobbs said. When LoCO visited the rink today, Hobbs was helping the first official skater — 6-year-old Bryson McLaughlin — get his ice legs. After clinging to the wall for his first few trips around the rink, Hobbs and other volunteers successfully coaxed him out toward the center, dragging him along by the handle of a snow shovel until he felt more stable. We asked Bryson what he found to be the hardest aspect of ice skating to be.

“Falling,” Bryson said. He fell a lot. But he kept at it.  

Bryson learns quickly.

“We really do have a special community,” said Dianna Rios, executive director of the Fortuna Business Improvement District and one of the organizers that brought the rink to Fortuna. Yesterday morning, a day before opening, she awoke to a text message containing an image of the wind-downed rink tent. She went to Newburg Park to survey the wreckage along with crews from the City and Bear River Casino.

“And then a truck pulled in and two big men jumped out. And then another truck and two more big men. And all of a sudden we had 30 big men here saying, ‘What can we do to help?’” Rios recounted. She expressed appreciation for the big men of Humboldt Fence Company who donated their time and were able to swap out steel poles for the aluminum ones. 

City of Fortuna employee Jesse Town tests the ice safety.

Rios said she’s hopeful that the rink will be financially sustainable enough to bring it back next year and into the future. She said 2,500 kids have already signed up to come skate with their schools and she expects that number to rise to closer to 4,000. Additionally, Humboldt Ice Rink has set aside numerous passes for community children’s organizations such as Big Brothers Big Sisters and CASA.

The rink was transported to Fortuna and constructed by Texas company Ice Rink Events, which touts itself as the “king of frozen water” and “modular ice rink technologies” on its website. After its six weeks here, the rink will be packed up and taken to another location.

This is what roughly 2,500 lbs. of industrial coolant looks like. Portable ice rinks use a lot of this stuff, apparently

Planning a skate trip to Fortuna? Humboldt Ice Rink admission (which includes skates) will run you $12 for adults/$8 for kids 12 and under. Be sure to check in advance to see which days the rink is open — it averages between three and four days a week and the times change. 

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Dianna Rios restocks some of the 200 skates available at the Humboldt Ice Rink

Local singer/songwriter Chris Parreira provided the PA system for the rink and then shredded the ice to a wintery soundtrack