Soldotna’s Parks and Recreation Department has been working for days to make an ice skating path at Soldotna Creek Park. Parks and Recreation Director Andrew Carmichael said it’s now ready for use.

Carmichael said the path is ready to see skates, but that the path is not as smooth as it could be.

“It’s actually too cold to resurface with the Zamboni,” Carmichael said. “When it gets below zero, the ice gets so hard, it curls up the blade.”

Despite not being able to resurface, Carmichael said it’s still open for skaters to use.

The city has been flooding the park in the wintertime, hot mopping a track and resurfacing it with a Zamboni to create an ice skating course in the park for about five years now, Carmichael said.

Carmichael said creating the course has helped create the Soldotna Creek Park into a community center for the area, even in the wintertime.

The ice skating course will be available until mid-February or March, or “for as long as Mother Nature lets us,” Carmichael said.