Rink

Final Friday Art Crawl & Parties For this event, our staff transforms a portion of the upstairs viewing area into an art gallery for participation in a City Downtown Development Final Friday Event that occurs on the last Friday of the month. About a dozen artists display their art from 6-9 p.m. Free munchies and a jazz band or singer is on site to "set the mood." This art crawl has a trolley running between the various venues hosting art parties (there are typically 20-25 venues that participate). Crowds reach 100-200 people during the three-hour exhibit. This event could very easily be done as a stand-alone in any facility as long as that property used press releases and good marketing procedures to get the announcement for the event into the community. We do not charge the artists to participate in our showing, with the understanding that we generate a commission from any sales. Our staff assists by working the sales table. We have seen a good variety of people who have come out to the art crawl return because, while they were here for the art crawl, they also were able to view our Friday night public skating session as well as our adult men's hockey league. To spread the word about our programs, we have our staff on hand at the information table handing out our brochures to these potential new customers. Many people who have come through for the art crawl were impressed with our facility as well as the programs. Many comments were made about signing up a child or grandchild, and it has really helped the facility to hit a demographic that we ordinarily would not have been able to reach! Haunted House A section of our building used for rental offices was sitting vacant. In an effort to generate some of the missed revenue and bring more people to our facility, this space was transformed into a haunted house at Halloween time. Staff members each took an area and decorated it with a theme of their choosing, which added a good deal of variety to the haunted house. The haunted house was open for three weekends leading up to Halloween, and the event brought a good deal of patrons through the doors, many of whom stayed to skate the public session that was going on at the same time in the evening! Dodgeball Tournament Our facility hosted a T-95 dodgeball tournament. This is an annual event that a local radio station has put on for the past three years in another venue. This year, they were looking for more space as they were growing each year in the number participants. The tournament has consistently drawn 64 teams (1,000 adult participants) in the past, along with several vendors and hundreds of spectators. We typically take out one ice sheet each summer anyway (alternating between NHL and Olympic) for general maintenance and cost savings. This tournament is going to be a perfect fit for the space, as well as a great revenue generator for us during the summer which, as we all know, is traditionally slower. Being a host site for a large-scale tournament really helped us market our name and facility! ★ Brenda Glidewell is the General Manager & Skating Director at the Wichita Ice Center in Wichita, Kansas. NAME Brenda Glidewell POSITION Manager & Director RINK/LOCATION Wichita Ice Center / Wichita, KAnsas Art crawl & special events 54 R INK MAGAZ INE may/June 2008 real programs In an effort to expand programming in their facility, the staff at the Wichita Ice Center have some real cool "Real Programs"! Hosting an art event is a great way to bring new customers to your facilty. PHOTOS COURTESY OF WICHITA ICE CENTER

• Cover