Rockford Park District Wants To Expand the Riverview Ice House

For kids these days, hockey and figure skating seem to be THE things to do in Rockford, and this is exactly why the Rockford Park District wants to do a $4 to $6 million dollar expansion to the Riverview Ice House in downtown Rockford. 

This expansion would include another full sheet of ice and improvements to the Riverview Ice House that would allow the facility to host even more hockey and figure skating competitions, in turn bringing more money and attention for Rockford's downtown area.

Concerns over the expansion aren't solely focused on getting the money to fund the project, but more about the demand for downtown parking. According to the Rockford Register Star, if the Park District expands the grounds of the Riverview Ice House, the city will lose about 200 parking spaces, which is a major problem when the Rockford City Market is in season.

Jay Sandine, assistant executive director of the Rockford Park District tells the RRStar;

Right now, we're in the very preliminary conversation phase about our ice facilities. We have a huge need for another sheet of ice and, in the next year, we're going to explore what that might look like."

Personally, I spent many weekends of my childhood at my brother's hockey games at Riverview, and now my nephew Reagan is playing there too, so I think a facelift/expansion to the facility is a great idea! Only time will tell, I guess.