Dennison awarded $30k grant for downtown ice-skating rink
DENNISON (WJER) (Feb. 27, 2023) – The effort to put a seasonal ice-skating rink next to the Downtown gazebo is getting a boost from the Reeves foundation.
An anonymous contribution and in-kind donations already brought the construction costs down from around $130,000 to $110,000. Mayor Greg DiDonato asked the foundation for another $30,000 and got a call letting him know the request was approved last Wednesday.
“We’re just excited because pretty well receiving that decent chunk of money now allows us to move forward. We have to get the order put in before the end of April to guarantee that we will have this ready for next winter.”
The company that runs the ice skating rink in Cambridge has offered to construct and manage the one in Dennison, which would go on the corner of Grant and Fourth next to the gazebo. That’s if the village can come up with the other $80,000 to build it, which Didonato doesn’t think will be a problem based on the number of people who’ve approached him about donating toward the project.
“We have some donors that have come forth and said if you move forward, again wanting to help the kids and have something for the kids to do. We’ve also had a couple other ones that said about possibly [making] a $5,000 or $10,000 donation.”
DiDonato has vowed to build the rink without taxpayer money but says he wouldn’t be opposed to taking out a loan and selling sponsorships to cover the payments. He encourages anyone interested in supporting the project to keep an on the village’s Facebook page for details.