"Ice-skating at one of the city's public rinks can be annoying: schlepping your stuff on the subway, sometimes with a child in tow; lines; rental fees; and dodging speed-demon teens or stumbling first-timers. Plus, LeFrak's hours are indecipherable. So what's an aspiring Shane Hollander to do? Well, have you considered building your own backyard ice rink? Lauren Collins Peterson, co-founder of the reproductive-rights organization Abortion in America and former figure skater, spent this winter figuring out how to do just that."
"Last winter was a really tough time in our household. One of my favorite people in the world passed away from aggressive brain cancer, I was in the middle of a very complicated pregnancy, and we had a lot of family stuff going on. It was just a hard time. And so this year, I could not face the prospect of another bleak, depressing January, and I really needed something to look forward to that would make me excited about frigid weather."
Public ice rinks present hassles: carrying gear on the subway, long lines, rental fees, inexperienced skaters, and unclear hours at some rinks. Lauren Collins Peterson, a former figure skater and co-founder of Abortion in America, converted a 250-square-foot plot behind her Crown Heights townhouse into a tiny backyard rink for her family. Personal losses and a difficult pregnancy motivated the project as a way to create something to look forward to in winter. Peterson researched Minnesota hockey-dad builds online, discussed the idea with visiting parents, and repurposed an underused backyard area into the skating surface.
Read at Curbed
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