Atascadero Outdoor Ice Skating Rink

One of the few things I loved about living in SLO County over the winter a couple of years ago was the ice skating rink in Atascadero’s Sunken Gardens. The year I was living in the area the ice rink came to Atascadero for 12 days. Since I am an ex-​figure skater and there are no ice rinks in the entire county, I was pretty excited about this!
I’ve been disappointed by outdoor rinks in the past, but Atascadero’s outdoor ice rink turned out to be really nice. The staff were very friendly and helpful. We bought our tickets originally online for a day where it ended up pouring rain. The staff very generously let us exchange our tickets for another day and session when the weather was nicer. The rink itself was pretty nice as well. For an outdoor rink it was fairly decently sized, and the Zamboni was used on a fairly regular basis. The times I came the sessions were pretty empty, which was another bonus. Finally, it was quite reasonably priced, for both the skating sessions and the mini concession stand.
The sad news is that, due to the economy, I heard Atascadero did not have their outdoor rink in 2008, and this year they’re bringing it back for only one day (December 11^th, 2009). This rink is such a great addition to the area that I hope they can bring it back for more than a day in the future. Hopefully if they get lots of positive feedback and interest they’ll decide to bring it back again for the full 12 days in 2010!