Where To Ice Skate In Oklahoma

Growing up in Denver, ice skating was just another factor of everyday life. There were ice rinks in almost every neighborhood up there to serve every junior hockey league and ice dancing team in the city. In moving to Oklahoma, that story was very different. Sure, we still had hockey, but it was only roller blades and games were held in our local, super dark roller rink in my hometown. We didn't even play with a puck, the league used a racquetball, which was a challenge... Low light, a blue rink surface, and a dozen kids with sticks chasing a blue ball you could barely see. Hockey was a challenge way back when.

This was back in the 90's. Ice was a rarity in Oklahoma, so was snow. It still is I suppose. In my 13 years in Lawton, I've only seen Medicine Park freeze over the creek once. It was an epic storm though that didn't last but a few days. When we were kids, mom would take us ice skating at the closest rinks there were. We had a choice between Wichita, Kansas or some huge mall in Dallas. We passed time at the rink while the parents bought presents. It was a real inconvenience to them just to get us on the ice, but that's not the story anymore.

Oklahoma is now home to a couple of ice rinks. Three are in Oklahoma City, but the famous one is located in Tulsa. It's normally located outside of the BOK Center in that weird Tulsa-Wants-To-Be-NYC Rockafeller Center tradition, but this year, after so many warm seasons, it's being moved indoors. I assume they'll require masks to enjoy the activity, but that's worth a little piece of home isn't it? Even though the festivities there are opening late at the request of their mayor, covid won't be canceling Winterfest yet... It opens November 30th.

Pro-Tip... If you go, don't follow I-44 through OKC. Instead, stay straight on the Hefner Parkway, follow it around OKC and it'll not only put you on the turnpike to Tulsa, it's a faster and more attractive way through the city.