Caldwell’s Indian Creek Plaza has sparked more tourism to the city’s downtown. One of the main features of the plaza is a brand new ice rink.
Even though Caldwell’s ice skating rink and ribbon have been open to the public just a couple of weeks, a ribbon cutting ceremony will begin around 6 p.m. Wednesday night. There will be speeches by the mayor and city council members, followed by a demonstration by the Boise Figure Skating Club.
Sarah Gross is the marketing and communications coordinator for Destination Caldwell. She says that the uniqueness of having the only ice ribbon in Idaho — which is an ice track that circles the rink — has been bringing visitors from around southwest Idaho.
"It is bringing people to downtown Caldwell every single day, and not just from Caldwell, from all over the Valley. From Boise to Ontario, people are coming here to check out the ice ribbon," Gross says.
Gross says that many ice rink visitors are newcomers to skating.
"One of my favorite things is seeing kids learn how to ice skate for the first time. Not a lot of people here have actually ice skated," she says. "Just seeing their smiles and their laughter and having that in downtown is just bringing life back."
Caldwell is also home to Idaho’s largest annual holiday light installation. This year, they’ll have around 800,000 lights strung along Indian Creek. But be wary of parking — Gross says there’s hardly a spot available on Friday and Saturday nights.
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