Menu
Anytime Ice Skating turns any day into a wintertime blast
It was damp and drizzly outside Wednesday with temperatures hovering around 60 degrees. Not exactly prime time for winter sports.
Yet inside the spacious new warehouse for Big Bounce Fun House Rentals at 3583 E. State Road 240, east of Greencastle, it might as well have been winter.
Jacob Lorimer, the son of Big Bounce owners Susan and Andy Lorimer, was doing his best Scott Hamilton routine, skating, spinning, stopping abruptly on a unique icy surface on the Lorimers’ new recreational investment -- Anytime Ice Skating.
“Whether it’s 102 or minus two, we can skate,” Susan Lorimer said, explaining how the synthetic ice surface “feels like ice” but there isn’t even a chemical on the surface of the panels that are laid end to end, tongue-in-groove style to create an ice rink as large as 4,000 square feet.
The panels of the iceless rink are impregnated with a chemical that is activated as it is skated upon.
“Some other types use an oil that can get on your clothes” or hands when you fall on the ice, she noted.
“It’s definitely a little different than ice but much more versatile,” Andy Lorimer added.
The Lorimers set up a 1,000-square-section of rink Wednesday as visiting businesses (including IAC in Greencastle), event planners, rental companies and others descended upon the warehouse north of State Road 240 through Friday to check out the unique ice skating rink purchased last December from Xtra Ice, the manufacturer located in Spain.
Wednesday morning representatives from Columbia City -- Mayor Ryan Daniel and Park Director Mark Green -- put on skates and tried out the slick surface. They’re thinking about putting an ice rink in their park and are considering renting the Anytime Ice Skating equipment “to let people see what we’re talking about,” Green said.
Representatives from Montana -- where they really know their winters -- were expected later in the day to see the ice rink in operation before possibly committing to putting one to use in Big Sky Country.
Meanwhile, the City of Westfield has already confirmed the July 4 use of all 4,000 square feet of the Lorimers’ ice rink -- comparable to a regular NBA basketball court -- for an event at Grand Park.
“It’s a one-day event that takes three days,” Andy Lorimer said, noting that it will take a day to set up and a day to disassemble.
In other words, it’s very labor intensive to set up.
The 4,000-square-foot version takes “eight guys eight hours to set up,” he added.
“The two biggest questions we get,” Susan noted, “are ‘How do you do it?’ (labor intensively) and, ‘Can you use real ice skates?’ (yes).”
The Lorimers said they looked at the ice rink for several years at trade shows before deciding to “take the plunge,” Susan said.
The equipment was shipped via boat last December from Spain and delivered to St. Louis where the Lorimers had it assembled for a three-week run under The Arch along the Mississippi River banks.
“We’re going to be traveling with it,” Susan said, noting that Anytime Ice Skating will service the entire country with its equipment.
”It is a niche,” she conceded. “It’s not for the backyard person. But it’s another neat thing for Greencastle.
“Ski resorts are calling us,” she said. “We’re working with the NFL and if Hollywood needs a rink ...”
Of course, Big Bounce has worked with the NFL before, setting up their inflatables and other equipment during the 2012 Super Bowl in Indianapolis.
“We’re already getting bookings and sending out estimates for Christmastime,” Susan Lorimer said, noting the rink is available on a first-come, first-served basis in 1,000-square-foot sections or the whole 4,000 square feet.
With Anytime Ice Skating joining the company ranks, four businesses now operate out of the Big Bounce facility -- those include Big Bounce Fun House, Fun Flicks of Indiana and Bounce Doctor, the latter another new venture in which other companies’ inflatables are repaired here in the middle of the country instead of having to be shipped to California or China (often their points of origin) to be mended.
On Saturday from 4-8 p.m. Big Bounce Fun House will host an end-of-May customer appreciation “free-for-all” event open to the public. Other inflatables will be set up on site and transportation between the house and the warehouse will be provided by the Big Bounce train and tractor.
There will even be a meal -- meat is provided --- but participants are asked to bring a two-liter bottle of pop and a side dish.
And hey, whatever the temperature, bring your ice skates.