CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- The Millennium Park ice rink opens on Friday morning at 11, and the city has been preparing for more than a month.
They started with two 150-gallon chillers, sending thousands of gallons of water through a pipe system under the ice rink. All that to get the surface to about 12 to 17 degrees Fahrenheit.
"About a week or two ago, they started laying the ice,” Ann Hickey, deputy commissioner of facilities at the city's Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, said Tuesday.
WBBM: I never realized they painted it.
"They do. They paint it so it looks white, yes."
Some 80,000 skaters are expected at Millennium Park before the end of the season, March 8.