There's a temporary wall on the side of Veterans Memorial Ice Arena. The city put it up for safety after the EF-1 tornado on April 15 tore a wall off the building. Behind it, the city says, is an arena that "cannot be restored to a usable state in time for the 2026-27 season." That night, MLive reported cinderblocks and debris scattered outside the rink and pool, and flooded grounds.
That matters this winter because Ann Arbor's city skating ran on two rinks. With one gone, the city's public ice season is less than half its usual length. It also sits on a single sheet whose open-skate hours fall mostly at lunchtime. Anyone who skates after work, takes kids out on weekend mornings, or wants ice in March will spend more of this season at the BIGGBY COFFEE Ice Cube on Oak Valley Drive.
The Rink That Usually Opens in September
The city's skating page normally describes a split schedule. Veterans Memorial Park Indoor Ice Arena runs from mid-September to early May. Buhr Park Outdoor Ice Arena runs November through February 28, weather permitting. Veterans was the long-season rink, open before the leaves fell and after the snow melted.
The trouble started before the storm. According to the city's closure announcement, Veterans had already ended its 2025-26 season early because of a mechanical issue. Then came the tornado. Josh Landefeld, Ann Arbor's Parks & Recreation manager, acknowledged the reach of the closure in that same release:
"This facility has been an important gathering place for generations, and we recognize the disappointment and disruption this closure creates for our community."
The damage went beyond the arena. In its July recovery update, the city listed a collapsed rink wall, damaged ballfield fencing and lighting, pool damage, and a damaged equipment shed at the Ann Arbor Skatepark. Its preliminary insured-damage estimate for Veterans Memorial Park and Fire Station 3 together was $2.5 million to $3 million.
One Sheet, Roughly 105 Days
Buhr Park Outdoor Ice Arena, at 2751 Packard Road, is scheduled to open Sunday, Nov. 15, three days after this post goes up, weather permitting. Its season ends February 28. That gives the city about 105 days of public ice, compared with the nearly eight months Veterans covers in a normal year.
Buhr is a covered, open-air, regulation-size rink with outdoor heaters for anyone warming up on the sidelines. The roof keeps snow off the ice. The city says a cooled subfloor lets crews hold ice even when it's over 50 degrees outside, which helps on the warm days a Michigan December can bring. The cold still reaches you, though, so dress for the weather, not for an arena.
Buhr's Week Is Built Around Lunch
Here is the open-skate schedule the city has posted for Buhr, which it notes is subject to change:
| Day | Midday session | Later session |
|---|---|---|
| Sunday | None | 3:15–5:30 p.m. |
| Monday | Noon–2 p.m. | 3:30–5 p.m. |
| Tuesday | Noon–2 p.m. | 5:15–6:15 p.m. |
| Wednesday | Noon–2 p.m. | None |
| Thursday | Noon–2 p.m. | None |
| Friday | Noon–2 p.m. | 7–8:45 p.m. |
| Saturday | 2:45–4:30 p.m. | 7:30–8:45 p.m. |
Five of the seven weekdays and weekend days have a noon-to-2 window. Evening open skate happens three times a week: Tuesday's hour, Friday from 7 to 8:45, and Saturday from 7:30 to 8:45. There's no morning open skate on any day. If you work downtown or near campus, Buhr fits a long lunch. If you can only skate after dinner on a Wednesday, the city rink has nothing for you this season.
What a Season at Buhr Costs
Daily open-skate admission is $6 for adults 18 to 59, $5 for seniors 60 and up, and $5 for youth ages 4 to 17. Children 3 and under skate free with a paying adult, and skate rental is $3. Rentals are first come, first served, in sizes from youth 8 to men's 14.
Regular skaters can lower the per-visit cost with punch passes:
- Adult 10-visit pass, $50: $5 a skate, a dollar under the daily rate
- Adult 30-visit pass, $128: about $4.27 a skate
- Youth/senior 10-visit pass, $40: $4 a skate
- Youth/senior 30-visit pass, $115: about $3.83 a skate
The passes are non-refundable, expire at the end of the 2026-27 season, and work only at Buhr. The city notes they won't work at Veterans this year. A 30-visit pass works out to about two skates a week across a season of about 15 weeks, so it pays off mainly for people who can make the midday sessions regularly.
Skate sharpening is done on site: $8 while you wait, which takes 10 to 15 minutes, or $6 if you leave the skates overnight.
Where the Hockey Players Fit In
Buhr fits its hockey sessions around open skate, mostly late at night and in short daytime blocks. Sticks & Pucks, open to all ages and capped at 40 skaters, runs Sunday 9 to 10 a.m., Monday 2:15 to 3:15 p.m., Friday 3 to 5 p.m., and Saturday 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. It costs $8 for adults and $7 for youth and seniors, and skates, sticks and helmets are required. The Sunday Sticks & Pucks hour is the only morning ice on Buhr's posted schedule.
Drop-in hockey costs the same, and goalies play free. The sessions:
- Monday, 9 to 10 p.m., all ages
- Tuesday, 9 to 10 p.m., women's
- Wednesday, 9 to 10 p.m., men's
- Thursday, 10:15 to 11:15 p.m., all ages
Sign-up opens 30 minutes before each game and has to be done in person. Full equipment is required. Buhr also runs a no-checking draft league for adults 18 and older who haven't played in organized leagues. It plays 15 games on Sunday afternoons and costs $225 for the full season or $120 for a half season of eight games. Goalies are free, and a new jersey is $25.
The Indoor Option on Oak Valley Drive
For the hours Buhr's schedule leaves open, and for ice after February, the indoor option is the BIGGBY COFFEE Ice Cube at 2121 Oak Valley Drive, which offers skating year-round. It opened in 1995 and is operated by Black Bear Sports Group. The 155,000-square-foot building has two NHL-size rinks and one Olympic-size rink, a Pure Hockey pro shop, a public fitness center, and a cafe and deli run by Chop Detroit.
Its 2026-27 guide lists several public skating sessions each week, plus Cosmic Skating on Fridays and Saturdays with disco lights and music. Like the city, it notes that schedules can change. The family public skate calendar has a session on Saturday, Nov. 21, from 4:15 to 5:35 p.m. The guide also says that pre-registering and paying online can save up to 33% compared with paying at the rink.
The Ice Cube is also the home rink for the Ann Arbor Figure Skating Club, the Biggby Coffee Hockey Club, and the Huron, Pioneer, Father Gabriel Richard and Saline high school hockey teams. With that many teams and clubs sharing three sheets, check the calendar before you go.
One Friday Worth Planning Around
Friday, Dec. 4, lines up a rink night and a downtown night. Kerrytown KindleFest runs from 5 to 10 p.m. at the Ann Arbor Farmers Market, with vendors, food, crafts, drinks, kids' activities and music. MLive reported that setup closes Detroit Street between Catherine Street and Fifth Avenue. Midnight Madness keeps downtown shops and restaurants open from 5 p.m. to midnight the same night.
Buhr's Friday evening open skate runs from 7 to 8:45 p.m. If you skate the early part of that window and leave by 8, you'll have nearly two hours left for KindleFest and four for Midnight Madness.
The Six-Month Clock on Veterans
Whether next winter looks like this one depends on City Hall. On Oct. 5, City Council directed staff to develop options to maintain, replace, improve or reimagine Veterans Memorial Park. The options are to cover feasibility, costs, funding, and the effects on current programs, including which organizations have used the park and how the closure affects them. The resolution asks for recommendations to go to the Park Advisory Commission within six months. If the review runs late, staff must give a progress update and finish within nine months.
WEMU reported that a recent parks assessment found Veterans needs significant investment just to keep its current operations going. The station quoted Council Member Travis Radina:
"We know that there is a demand out there for the features that are there, but I think that it's important for us to really take this moment and not try to rush to a solution because whatever solution is there is going to be significant."
The arena stays closed while the review runs. Six months from Oct. 5 is early April 2027, about when Veterans would normally be finishing its season.
Rink access is one of the everyday details that shapes how a part of town works for you, and it's part of the local knowledge Anthony Maisano brings to every Ann Arbor search, from how close you are to Buhr's Packard Road sheet to your drive to Oak Valley Drive. If you're thinking about where your family will spend its winters, schedule a strategy call.
