Fundraising campaign making progress for ‘rodeo rink’ at Eagle County Fairgrounds

A campaign to put a seasonal ice sheet on the rodeo arena at the Eagle County Fairgrounds is making progress, one $500 check and cup of lemonade at a time, but the clock is ticking.

With Vail’s Dobson Ice Arena closed until November of 2026, the valley’s skating and hockey families are scrambling to replace that ice for the coming season. It looks like a solution has been found at the rodeo arena. That solution, with an estimated cost of about $700,000, has raised more than $430,000 in a little more than a month.

The money raised so far will pay for an ice sheet, including chiller pads and other infrastructure. The arena floor can be made flat, and the space under the grandstands can be outfitted for locker rooms. There’s also room for Zamboni storage.

Can they raise the roof?

The big question now is if enough money can be raised for a roof to cover the ice sheet.

Slade Cogswell, a board member on the Vail Mountaineers Hockey Club, which coordinates the valley’s youth hockey programs, said while chillers can keep an ice surface cold through the winter in Eagle, a roof over the ice can keep the surface consistent and less reliant on the weather.

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Speaking on a clear, windy summer afternoon, Cogswell said it would be impossible to host games on a similar day in the winter. And, he added, regional sanctioning bodies require covered surfaces for tournaments.

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Those tournaments bring lots of people — and lots of business — to host communities, Cogswell said.

A tournament drives in “hundreds” of overnight stays, Cogswell noted. That adds up to a lot of sales and lodging tax revenue.

With that in mind, rodeo rink supporters have made a pitch to Town of Eagle officials, but the town hasn’t yet made a commitment. Mountain Recreation recently made a $35,000 commitment to the effort.

Cogswell said Eagle County has been a “wonderful partner,” but Eagle County Manager Jeff Shroll said it’s unlikely the county will contribute beyond an already-significant commitment to in-kind services.

Shroll said that commitment includes creating locker rooms under the grandstands, putting down padding, and having a crew from the county’s Road and Bridge Department prepare the arena floor for an ice rink.

After just more than a month, Cogswell said the fundraising effort has been “unbelievable,” with skating families from across the valley getting involved.

“There are 1,500 displaced users,” Cogswell said, adding that he was recently in Summit County and ran into a dozen or so Vail Valley skaters who made the drive just to get a bit of ice time.

Many of those famiies are writing relatively small checks, and some of the skating kids are selling lemonade or golf balls collected at local courses.

Katie Santambrogio of Social Impact Advisors is helping the Vail Mountaineers with the fundraising campaign.

Lots of donors

Santambrogio said with the exception of a couple of large donors, the average donation is less than $500, spread across about 250 donors. Those donors include the young skaters.

A hockey mom herself, Santambrogio said a donor has agreed to match the money raised by the lemonade and golf ball-selling kids.

But more is needed, and time is running short, although plenty of sponsorship opportunities are available, from wrapping the Zamboni to advertising on the boards around the rink.

“We need to be able to make vendor commitments in the next month,” Santambrogio said. That means having between $550,000 and $600,000 in the account. By the beginning of August, supporters need to be able to make commitments on just what the coming winder is going to look like.

But backers remain hopeful, and Santambrogio’s son, Paxton, had a great idea for the first time skaters head out to the ice for the first time on the arena floor.

“We should all wear cowboy hats,” he told his mom.

To learn more about the effort, go to VailMountaineers.com.