This Eastern Iowa Winter Staple Will Not Be Open This Year

A Quad Cities wintertime destination won't be opening for the 2023-2024 season.

We're in the time of the year (and will be for a few more months) to do festive, holiday stuff. We're currently tearing through corn mazes, pumpkin patches, and apple orchards. In about a month and a half, we'll start raiding the Christmas tree farms and putting the eggnog and hot cocoa industries in the black.

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One classic winter date night (and fun winter activity in general) is to go ice skating. It's my favorite year-round activity to do but it's definitely cozier with a mug of hot chocolate. There aren't a ton of rinks to go to around the Quad Cities and this winter, we'll be down one.

Where You Can Go Skate

Before we talk about where you won't be able to get your glide on, let's look at your skating options for this winter. They're all indoors but it's still festive.

You can take the kiddles to the rink I live skate at: The River's Edge in downtown Davenport. Public skate admission is $5.50, skate rental is $3.50 per pair. They also have a concession stand too if you get the munchies and are about to open their second rink this month. If you or your kids are too afraid of falling, they have blue, plastic walkers you can drag in front of you on the ice to keep you up.

There's also a nice rink at Coral Ridge Mall in Coralville if you want to skate mid-shopping trip and a rink in Cedar Rapids.

Where You Won't Go Skating This Year

You won't be skating at Frozen Landing in Bettendorf. That's because crews are still in Phase 1 of building 'The Landing', which will be the big, permanent activity complex in Bettendorf.

The city told me the goal is to have the 12, 500 sq. ft. activity pool and it's surrounding buildings (which is Phase 1) open by summer 2024. There will also be "a three-story-high tower with three water slides, a 430-foot-long lazy river, and a 3,700-square-foot spray ground and play structure".

Here's the thing: no work can be done on the ice rink part of The Landing until the aquatic facility is done. The aquatic facility is expected to be completed in 2025.

So it could be two winters that we don't have the outdoor Frozen Landing rink. Generally, it's opened around Thanksgiving. 'The Landing' project plans to transform the ice rink space into a turf field in the summer. So it will look like this in the winter:

And transition to this in the summer:

So even though we have one less rink around us this winter, there are still places you can ice skate with the fams. The holiday season is still about a month away, so you've got time to watch some Hallmark movies to get in the spirit.