Morrison Winter Park Offers Seasonal Recreation

Located in the tennis court at Water Works Park, 503 W. Winfield St., the park features a skating rink platform measuring 44 by 88 ft., free rental skates in the Skate Shack, skating trainers, picnic tables, music over the loudspeakers, a fire pit, and strings of party lights along the fences. The park also has nearby sledding hills and a “sled library,” with winter fun always dependent on mother nature. 

This is the second year for Morrison Winter Park, a community effort led by Morrison’s Department of Fun and Friends of the Parks. They established the park to offer winter recreation for the community during the long and cold winter months. The mild winter of 2023 left limited time to enjoy the park, but volunteers forged ahead with their long-term plans.    

The winter park was just an idea in 2022 after volunteers held a community meeting to gather support for the concept. After establishing the park, they held workdays that included removing a dead tree on the sledding hill, filling a washout by the hill, cleaning and fixing up the court, and finding sponsors and starting fundraising efforts for the park.   

The City of Morrison helped update the wiring around the court and currently pays for electricity. The Morrison Fire Department uses a park hydrant to fill the ice rink, and MWP volunteers use the hydrant to top off the ice rink and resurface the ice as needed. Volunteer Trent Bush and his father Lyle built a platform to access the ice, and Chuck and Sally Finley constructed a small ramp for access. Weets and Son Septic Service, Morrison, donated a portable toilet for the winter season.

Volunteers started prepping for this year’s season with a planning meeting in October, a community workday in November, a fundraising trivia night in December, and then waiting for the cold weather to come in and freeze the rink. The Morrison Area Community Foundation supplied a grant of $1,500 that was used to purchase additional skates.  

While there’s still plenty of winter left for kids and adults to enjoy the park, this week’s projected warmer temperatures may have an impact on the rink conditions, so be sure to check Morrison Winter Park on Facebook before heading out for some fun!  

Answers to frequently asked questions (FAQs) regarding Morrison Winter Park (MWP):

1. WHEN IS MWP GENERALLY OPEN? Morrison parks are open from 7:00a.m. – 10:00 p.m., and MWP will follow those hours.

2. WILL MWP CLOSE FOR WEATHER? Yes! Ice conditions will dictate when the rink is open. Sledders can use the sledding hill as conditions permit.

3. HOW WILL WE KNOW IF THE RINK IS CLOSED? We will have signage posted at the park as well as yellow chains across the entrances when the rink is closed to skaters. We will also update Open/Closed status on Facebook so you don’t have to drive all the way to the park to find out.

4. WILL SKATES BE AVAILABLE? Yes! Through community donations, we have assembled and refurbished a nice selection of skates. We have a “Skate Shack” to store the skates for use FREE OF CHARGE. Unfortunately, given our experiences with vandalism already, we cannot leave the Shack open all the time, but we will post on FB when our volunteers are at the park and when the Shack is open. Meanwhile, we have heard of some reasonably priced skates at thrift shops and local sporting goods stores.

5. WILL THE ICE BE MAINTAINED? Yes, we plan to resurface the ice as conditions dictate. The City has made the hydrant available and our volunteers are perfecting their craft. We could use more volunteers to help with this effort!

6. WHAT’S NEXT FOR MWP? Our volunteers will continue to work on various enhancements to MWP. These include: gates to secure the rink when closed and special events, such as movie nights, fire pits, and Christmas markets.

7. MWP SOUNDS AWESOME – ARE VOLUNTEERS NEEDED? We can always use more volunteers to help with these efforts. Please message the page for more information.

8. MWP SOUNDS AWESOME – ARE DONATIONS ACCEPTED? MWP is made possible by the generous support of the community. If you wish to make a tax-deductible donation, please message the page to learn how. There is also a donation box in the Skate Shack. Every dollar helps! They also continue to accept used skates and sleds for patrons.