Council backs holiday ice rink

October 28, 2026 by Ben Pounds

The City Council unanimously approved spending $15,000 for a synthetic ice rink in downtown Clinton for the holiday season.

The vote was unanimous, although Council member Brian Hatmaker was not present at the Oct. 26 meeting.

Katherine Birkbeck, executive director of Historic Downtown Clinton, asked for the funds which were half of the $30,000 for the project. She said the rink will be at Hoskins Park. She said she plans to fundraise for the other funds and charge to pay for employees to run the skating area. The rink would open on Nov. 27 and run for two weeks.

“I have long held the belief that downtown Clinton could be a Christmas destination city,” she said, adding it would help promote small businesses during the holidays.

In other holiday season related news, Birkbeck said her organization had installed 19 out of 24 of its lamppost speakers and planned to install the rest that week. The speakers will play holiday music as well as give emergency weather alerts.

Zoning

At the same meeting the council approved re-zoning land off of Yarnell Road in Aspire Park from a residential R-1 zoning code to a P-1 park code.

Chris Malone, director of design and development for Holingsworth Companies said the intention was to create and leave a forested buffer around the park but not make any alterations.