Amelia Park Arena Skate Guard Matthew Szenda rents skates to Amelia and Sara Garvin of West Springfield for public skate time. Szenda will also jump on the ice during public skate time.
Reminder Publishing photo by Amy Porter
WESTFIELD — Amelia Park Arena, located at 21 S. Broad St., will host a series of special public skates, starting with Free Community Public Skating Day on Saturday, Sept. 19, from noon to 1:30 p.m.
The skate was first created in 2024 as part of Amelia Park’s Annual Community Give Back Initiative. The first 150 skaters will be admitted to the arena free of charge, including skate rentals. While many skaters will be familiar with the rink, the free community public skate also gives local families a great opportunity to try ice skating for the first time at no cost.
Five more public skates are scheduled through Jan. 10. While some skates are back as annual events, General Manager Billy Fellows thinks it is important to add some new special events.
“We’ve done a nice job over the past few years trying to add new events and skates for the kids; we don’t want to lose that momentum,” he said. “Amelia Park is meant to be a great community resource for local families, so we want to make sure we are doing everything we can to live up to that standard.”
The next public skate on the schedule will be a Halloween Costume Skate on Oct. 24 from noon to 1:50 p.m. Skaters are encouraged to dress up in their best costumes, and a contest will take place on the ice at 1 p.m. The arena will be filled with Halloween decorations, and the three best costumes will be awarded prizes.
In November, the rink is bringing back its Animal Rescue Skate for the third straight year. The skate serves as a fundraiser for the Westfield Animal Shelter, with 50% of all admissions donated directly to the shelter. Each year, shelter volunteers also bring adoptable animals with hopes of increasing exposure and matching them with their forever homes. You can help support the cause by attending the skate on Nov. 15 from 11:45 a.m. to 12:45 p.m.
As the holiday season rolls in, so will one of Amelia Park’s most popular events. The Annual Skate With Santa returns on Dec. 19, with Santa hitting the ice from noon to 1:50 p.m. Families can take pictures with Santa on the ice at no cost, and holiday music will flow throughout the building.
The last two public skates of the fall/winter series will be new to the arena. The first one is “Noon Year’s Eve” on Dec. 31 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. for families and individuals who want to see the ball drop but don’t want to stay up until midnight. The skate will be cosmic-themed, with lights, music and a noon ball drop on the ice for everyone to see.
The final skate will be a Superhero Skate on Jan. 10 from 11:45 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. The ice will be filled with popular superheroes and characters ready to interact with the kids. Pictures may be taken, and kids’ imaginations will run wild as their favorite characters fly around the ice.
Fellows spoke to the community aspect of the skate series.
“Rolling out fun new public skates, while also finding ways to give back, is a huge bonus. As a nonprofit organization, we just continue to look for ways to do right by our community,” he said.
No pre-registration is required for special public skates. People can show up and bring their group to the front desk.
The Amelia Park Arena is only closed during the last week of April and all of May. Since reopening on June 1, the arena has been busy all summer long with outdoor sneaker hockey and indoor skating.
“It was great. We had 100 kids for outdoor hockey and eight teams — pretty awesome,” Fellows said. Indoors, the rink hosted the Hockey Academy of New England’s hockey camp and regular evening skating.
“We’re extremely busy. This was one of our busiest summers we’ve ever had. After Labor Day, youth hockey comes back, so all of our ice slots after 4 p.m. are sold out through the winter for weekdays,” he said.
Besides the public skates, some of the arena’s more popular events include Saturday Night Skate from 8-10 p.m., which Fellows said is extremely popular with middle school kids. “We get 200 middle school kids a night once that gets going,” he said, although all ages are welcome. Saturday Night Skates are also drop-in events with no pre-registration required.
Weekend birthday parties at the Amelia Park Arena are becoming increasingly popular. “We had 75 of them last year. There is still plenty of weekend space for birthday parties,” Fellows said.
More information and pricing for all events can be found at ameliaparkarena.org or by calling 413-568-2503.
