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Sum­mer­time Skat­ing Rink Opens on May 26 on Gov­er­nors Island

May 22, 2018 11:09 am

The Trust for Gov­er­nors Island today announced the open­ing of a new sum­mer­time skat­ing rink along Gov­er­nors Island’s West­ern shore. Made from a syn­thet­ic mate­r­i­al designed for met­al ice skates, Mel’s Rink Gov­er­nors Island will give New York­ers the rare oppor­tu­ni­ty to skate dur­ing the sum­mer months and is the first out­door skat­ing oppor­tu­ni­ty on Gov­er­nors Island. Skate rentals will be avail­able for ages, with free skat­ing every week­day from 10AM-12PM. The rink offi­cial­ly opens to the pub­lic on Sat­ur­day, May 26.

“Gov­er­nors Island is already a beloved recre­ation­al des­ti­na­tion, but what could be more fun than sum­mer­time ice skat­ing in view of the Stat­ue of Lib­er­ty?” said Michael Samuelian, Pres­i­dent of the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island. ​“Whether you’re an ama­teur skater or sea­soned-pro, we can’t wait to see New York­ers turn­ing ice skat­ing upside down on our new rink that allows for skat­ing in the sum­mer sun.”

One of the only places in New York City to skate dur­ing the sum­mer months, Gov­er­nors Island’s 8,000 square-foot skat­ing rink is built in part­ner­ship with Mel’s Rink Foun­da­tion, a Mary­land-based non-prof­it that pro­vides men­tal­ly and phys­i­cal­ly chal­lenged chil­dren and adults with skat­ing and hock­ey lessons, sports skills and spaces to play. Orig­i­nal­ly locat­ed on the rooftop of the Water­gate Hotel in Wash­ing­ton, D.C., Mel’s Rink moves to Gov­er­nors Island this sea­son, the organization’s first ven­ture in New York City.

“Gov­er­nors Island is a place to dis­cov­er the unex­pect­ed, and we’re thrilled to bring an unex­pect­ed recre­ation­al oppor­tu­ni­ty to New York­ers for the first time — sum­mer­time ice skat­ing!” said Karen Brooks Hop­kins, Trust for Gov­er­nors Island Board Mem­ber and Senior Advi­sor, the Onas­sis Foun­da­tion. ​“When I first dis­cov­ered Mel’s Rink on the roof of the Water­gate Hotel in Wash­ing­ton, D.C., I imme­di­ate­ly pic­tured a larg­er ver­sion for New York City skaters on Gov­er­nors Island, right in view of Lady Lib­er­ty. We invite vis­i­tors of all ages and abil­i­ties to enjoy a one of a kind skat­ing expe­ri­ence this summer.”

“The Mel’s Rink Foun­da­tion is thrilled to be part­ner­ing with Gov­er­nors Island on such a unique and excit­ing oppor­tu­ni­ty,” said Marc Kohn, Founder of Mel’s Rink Foun­da­tion. ​“To bring the immense joy of skat­ing fun to the NYC com­mu­ni­ty dur­ing the sum­mer is exhilarating!”

Locat­ed along the Island’s West­ern Prom­e­nade near his­toric Cas­tle Williams and in view of the Stat­ue of Lib­er­ty, Mel’s Rink Gov­er­nors Island will be open dai­ly from 10AM-5PM on week­days and from 10AM-6PM week­ends begin­ning Sat­ur­day, May 26. The rink will remain open dur­ing Gov­er­nors Island’s Late Fri­days until 9PM begin­ning Fri­day, June 1. Free skat­ing is avail­able on week­days for the first hour from 10AM-12PM.

For Skate Rentals + Rink Access, the rates are as follows:

$20 for adults

$15 for children

If you bring your own skates, rink access is:

$10 for adults

$5 for children

Mel’s Rink uti­lizes state-of-the art syn­thet­ic tech­nol­o­gy to pro­vide skaters with an ​“ice like” feel unmatched in the indus­try. The syn­thet­ic ice is high den­si­ty plas­tic poly­mer that mim­ics the prop­er­ties of real ice, designed for use with tra­di­tion­al ice skates with sharp met­al blades. Mel’s Rink per­forms skate sharp­en­ing through­out the day, so every skater has an excep­tion­al expe­ri­ence. Skate sharp­en­ing demon­stra­tions are open to the pub­lic when­ev­er the rink is open.

Gov­er­nors Island and Mel’s Rink will announce spe­cial pro­gram­ming, on-site food and bev­er­age and spe­cial guest skaters at the rink through­out the summer.

Gov­er­nors Island is open to the pub­lic sev­en days a week from May 1 through Octo­ber 31 from

10 AM to 6 PM week­days, from 10AM-10 PM on Fri­days between May 25-Sep­tem­ber 14 and from 10 AM to 7 PM weekends.

About Mel’s Rink Foundation

The Mel’s Rink Foun­da­tion was formed after the untime­ly pass­ing of founder, Marc Kohn’s step-daugh­ter, Melanie. Mel was a huge hock­ey fan and the orig­i­nal Mel’s Rink was built in her hon­or. The Mel’s Rink Foun­da­tion is com­mit­ted to build­ing syn­thet­ic rinks open to the pub­lic, but with a focus on teach­ing kids with dif­fer­ent needs and those from dis­ad­van­taged fam­i­lies, how to skate and play the great game of hockey.