Northwestern students and Evanston residents alike braved the cold on Friday night in an effort to enjoy the outdoors before the impending snowpocalypse.
Sponsored by Northwestern’s Dittmar Gallery and NorrisOutdoors, the Northwestern figure skating club gave free ice skating lessons to Northwestern students and members of the Evanston community in their Ice Skating Exhibition on Friday from 5-8 p.m.
“It’s such an exciting thing to finally have a rink on campus,” said Carol Kim, Northwestern’s figure skating club captain.
Norris contacted the figure skating club to hold an event at the rink in order to attract more students, according Kim.
“We decided that something fun like ‘Learn to Skate with NU Skating’ would be a good way to encourage people to get out on the ice and make it casual,” said Kim.
The club took time out of their winter competition and spring exhibition training schedule to promote visibility for both the team and the rink.
“We thought [the publicity] was pretty cool because most people don’t know we have a figure skating team on campus,” said Laurie Liu, a junior on the figure skating team.
Liu, a California native, had never skated on an outdoor rink before the rink at Norris opened.
“It’s really not a tiny rink…a little small for [figure] skating but for the Northwestern Campus it’s definitely big enough,” Liu said.
The event featured a DJ and free cider and popcorn for those in attendance, in addition to the lessons given to the wobbly-legged kids, students and adults.
“I know Morty is trying to promote community and stuff and this is just a good place where [students and the Evanston community] can just enjoy winter,” said Liu of the motivations for the exhibition.
If Sarah Cunningham, a Northwestern sophomore first time visitor to the rink, is any indication, the event achieved its goals.
“I think [the rink] is great! And it’s also a great way to exercise in the winter time when it’s not as nice out and you can’t go for a run outside,” said Cunningham. “You can still do something fun and get outdoors with your friends.”