The Rink At Monsanto Grove

There are better places in St. Louis to skate, but none that I’ve ever visited quite have the charm of The Rink at Monsanto Grove.
To call it anything less than the perfect date spot is to sell it short.
Already built as a temporary addition to the grove at Schiller Park, the rink is equipped with hundreds of white Christmas lights, strung through the trees and over the ice. The effect is pretty similar to the section of WashAve a few blocks to the north: a sophisticated, relaxing, and well-​lit vibe that’s wonderfully intimate.
As portable venues go, this one was nice and simple. Benches are set up on the western end of the park, adjacent to the trailer where you can rent skates and pay for admission. A few portable toilets are also located on site. No provision for lockers is available, but the small size of the whole event makes keeping an eye on a pair of shoes placed under the benches easy enough.
There weren’t any skate patrolers on the ice the night I visited, but it hardly seems necessary given the rink’s cozy confines. It’s a smallish block of ice, maybe half of the surface area of Steinberg (if even that) and kept cold by an onsite generator whose fumes occasionally blew onto the ice. Ice condition’s best described as ‘natural’, with more than a few irregularities such as leaves frozen into the mix and few (if any) breaks for resurfacing. The $ 6/​$ 4 admission and rental charge seems a bit high, until you consider that you could skate the entire session for the price (if you wanted) and it’s on par with Steinberg.
As closing time neared, the place was nearly vacated on Friday night. In the middle of Downtown, with the glow of the Peabody on one side, twinkling lights above reflecting off of the shaved and jagged pond, and a clear view down Market Street, I can’t suggest a finer way to spend an evening. It was as if every ‘lonely skater on a frozen pond’ dream sequence finally had a place to play out in St. Louis.
*Note: Unfortunately, the season is scheduled to be cut short of the originally announced January ¹⁵⁄₁₆^th closing. The last day to skate is January 1^st.