McHenry Parks and Recreation has been setting up two rinks – one for open skating and one for hockey – at Fox Ridge Park for probably the past 15 years, Director Bill Hobson said.

Between warmer winter temperatures and ongoing vandalism, however, his department may have to rethink those rinks, Hobson said.

Parks and Recreation has also started to regrade the area at Miller Point Park, where a portable ice rink is now set up during the winter season. Plans are to even out the area, add a sprinkler system and re-sod the area, Hobson said.

Originally, the Miller Point rink area was designed with the idea that the city would put down a liner and flood it to create a rink. Then, Mayor Wayne Jett used the RISE Up Foundation to fundraise for a portable, chilled ice rink that is not completely weather-dependent.

“We will re-sod over for a nice plush area for kids” to play, Hobson said.

Fox Ridge Park was was designed similarly, with ice rinks in mind. Low berms were built to accommodate the flooding of the area for an ice rink. The city lays down a liner to ensure the water stays in place, then floods the area to create the ice.

“We put up boards for two separate rinks” inside the berm, Hobson said.

The city was able to get ice on the rinks when temperatures dropped in December. But by Christmas, warmer weather came in.

“We had to close because of the warmer weather,” Hobson said.

Then came the vandalism.

“There are foam pads on the boards. They pulled off the foam pads,” he said. Sandbags used to hold up the boards were thrown onto the ice.

In his January report to the McHenry City Council, Hobson also noted that people were walking on the un-frozen liners in their ice skates.

“Signs for the rinks being closed were posted and the park was gated off. ... People continued to access the rinks, walking across the liner with skates and cutting holes into the liners,” Hobson wrote.

“The extensive damage will prevent the department from moving forward to reestablish the rinks this year, even when the weather shifts to more favorable ice conditions. The rinks will be completely removed to prevent further damage,” Hobson wrote in his report to the Council.

Those liners run about $2,000 each, Hobson said – liners that the department replaced for the 2024-25 skating season because of previous vandalism.

History – and weather reports – may also be showing that the potential for sustained, usable ice without a chiller system may no longer be feasible, Hobson said.

City officials do ask residents to keep an eye out on their neighborhood parks and report vandalism, Hobson said.

“But our best bet is security cameras” at the park, he said, like those at Miller Point Park. That is tougher to do at Fox Ridge because of its more-remote location, he added.

He hasn’t made the call yet on whether his department will put up those rinks next winter.