BEND, OR -- Bend Park and Recreation staff hope to open the ice rink at The Pavilion this weekend, after weather delayed ice-making season. "They intended on starting to build ice kind of right after the ski swap closed up. And they decided, with those warm temperatures, that they were going to kick it down the line about a week," says Bend Parks & Rec's Julie Brown, "So, they’ve just started building ice." She tells KBND News, "We tend to build ice starting at about midnight, and we’ll build ice until 6 or 7 in the morning. So we make the most use of that coldest hours of the day. And then we’ll let it sit, and then we’ll get at it that next night." That slab of ice needs to be about 2" thick.

The ice rink's season stretches into April, weather permitting. Brown says they hope to have the rink ready for open-skate by this Saturday. While many leagues, like curling, are full, she says there is still room in next week’s Intro to Curling class, "It’s an introduction session. It’s about three hours on a Friday morning, and you get to learn all about curling and you get a chance to try it. "

Parks staff are also working on other seasonal changes, "Our Parks Services staff members are really busy doing irrigation blowouts and some of the seasonal closures that we’ll have for the portable restrooms or our permanent restrooms. They tend to have some of those that will close down for the season, and some of those that will just reduce the hours with the amount of daylight that we have." That means some visitors may notice water issues in parks, "If you do happen to see some sprinkler activity in some of the parks, just know it’s probably related to us doing the irrigation blowout."

One activity remains available all year round: the Whitewater Park "The water flows certainly change and so some of the dynamics within the wave shapes will change accordingly, with that. But some of the surfers are out there every day of the year." Brown notes, the wetsuits do get thicker this time of year.