Bring the Kids to Skate at Victoria Park Oval and Iceway This Year

Are you searching for a free winter activity to do with the kids? Check out the Victoria Park Oval and IceWay. Open for the season, you’ll find the rink open from 10-10, with the exception of ice closure days.

With just over 2 km of ice, the Rundle Park IceWay is the newest addition to the IceWay family. Featuring a shinny pond, a large tableland ice skating surface and a smaller family rink, this IceWay is connected to picnic shelters and warming huts for an enjoyable, family-friendly skating experience in the River Valley.

Victoria Park makes skating with young children, easy. First of all, there is an abundance of parking, just steps away from the Victoria Park Warming Pavilion. As a mother of three kids, all 5 and under, I appreciate the Warming Pavilion so much – a warm, dry, safe place for my husband and I to get snowsuits, helmets, mittens and skates on our three little ones. The Warming Pavilion includes washrooms, skate change rooms, lockers, tables, and a water bottle fill up station. I can honestly say that all these things came in handy when our family of five was getting ready to hit the ice, and then again when it was time to pack up and go home.  

Outside the Warming Pavilion is the Victoria Park Oval – a massive, flat, oval skating surface that leads to the Victoria Park IceWay. The Oval is perfect for first-time, or new skaters as the space is relatively flat. The IceWay, while it looks flat, has the slightest incline, which may require parent assistance for new skaters. 

The highlight of our time at Victoria Park was when the sun set, and the IceWay was lit up by luminescent lights. There is nothing like skating through our Urban Forest, with views of Downtown, on a trail lit up by colourful shining lights. 

Stay Warm in the Warming Huts – How do warming huts work?

• The huts gather and retain heat from the sun using passive solar principles for heating – like a greenhouse! This means that they can gather and retain heat from the sun without the need for electricity.
• The huts’ main windows are oriented south so that they capture the heat and retain it in the thermal mass of their concrete floors, and their insulation prevents the heat from escaping.

Remember to bring your own skates and helmet, as this site does not have rentals available. And if you’re really thinking ahead, bring a thermos of hot chocolate to share, while watching skaters on the Oval before heading home. 

Parking: Parking will be available in the Victoria Park main parking lot, Victoria Park east lot, and at the Victoria Golf Course. Learn more about the Victoria Park Oval and Iceway, at www.edmonton.ca.