Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - The 11th season of the Ice at Canalside was set to formally kick off this past weekend, but rain and warm temperatures pushed opening weekend festivities back by a week in Downtown Buffalo.
"All of our extra curricular festivities, such as fireworks, giveaways, DJs, have all been moved to next week on Black Friday and Thanksgiving weekend. So we'll have double the fun next weekend instead," said Brigid Burns, marketing and promotion coordinator with Buffalo Waterfront.
Despite the weather washing out the weekend of activities, people were still able to salvage a bit of fun at Canalside with the ice opening for ice skaters on Saturday. That was possible this weekend thanks to the new cooling system that was implemented last year.
"We have a great team of ice techs to make sure the ice is safe for our guests to come and skate on," Burns said during her interview with WBEN. "Our cooling system is fantastic to keep the ice in the conditions it should be in. It's just a matter of the weather and the rain that trips us up a little bit, but I think we'll be OK."
Even with the new cooling system keeping things in check for ice conditions, Burns says they still keep up on the weather to ensure the safety of skaters.
"If it's raining, we can't open if it's a pretty harsh rain. If it's sprinkling, we will try to open and have guests come down during that. But with the cooling system, it's not really a concern anymore. It just depends on the rain or the snow, or the other storms we have going on down here," she said. But we do monitor the weather daily, almost, just to make sure it'll be safe skating conditions, not necessarily that we're concerned about the conditions underneath the surface."
When the ice is open, there are some fun activities for people to take advantage of this year at Canalside.
"We do have a new hockey activation zone, so guests can come down, shoot their shot at hockey, see if they can score some points. We did bring our ice bumper cars back this year as well, which is a huge fan favorite. The guests of Buffalo love riding the bumper cars. We have our curling, we have our igloos, and then we have our photo ops as well," Burns said.
Even if the ice closes for a particular day, Burns says there are other chances to take advantage of different attractions.
"We have Shark Girl down here, we have our new 'Bills Mafia' sleigh, we have our Christmas tree. So we do see a lot of traction there for people just coming down to take pictures, even if they're not skating," she explained.
And each day is different down at the Ice at Canalside, with the return of Friday Night Lights and special events taking place on Saturdays.
"There's always going to be something different for people to come down and enjoy," Burns added.
So what can people expect for opening weekend at the Ice at Canalside this coming Friday?
"We are moving our Season Giveaway Night to next Friday. We're going to do a Holiday Pops Night and our Season Giveaway Night all in one," Burns said. "You can win tickets to the [Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra] show, Holiday Pops Show at Kleinhans, and we're doing different giveaways every hour, on the hour as well. And then Saturday night, we are doing our Polar Express Night, so it's a good day to bring the kids down, get some hot chocolate, and you might even see the man in red as well."
More information, including hours and events at the Ice at Canalside is available at the Buffalo Waterfront's website: