HOLLAND, Mich. (WOOD) — A new ice rink is starting to take shape in downtown Holland, but it will still be some time before people can lace up their skates.

The $11 million Holland Community Ice Skating Park at Window on the Waterfront Park on 6th Street and College Avenue is being funded primarily through community donations.

“We’ve actually actively been discussing this for probably 90 years,” Holland Assistant City Manager Matt VanDyken, who is tasked with overseeing construction, said. “We go back to Lida Rogers, the founder of Tulip Time, that actually talked about an ice rink in downtown. We’ve tried it a few times with nonrefrigerated rinks, but that doesn’t really work. We get so close to the lake (that) we get variable weather here.”

The rink will be able to make ice anytime the temperature is below 50 degrees.

“We will provide skate rentals, we will have some concessions here and then we’ve got that pond of ice, connected to a ribbon of ice and that’s really gonna be the main attraction,” VanDyken explained.

The park will feature new heated sidewalks that connect to the existing network downtown.

“We’ve done a lot of work under the ground,” VanDyken said.

The project would not be possible without generous support from the community. The Jim Jurries Family and Frank Kraai were the lead donors. Kraai was a retired schoolteacher who donated $1.1 million and was a passionate advocate for building a refrigerated rink in downtown Holland.

“Unfortunately, Frank was here for the groundbreaking, but he passed recently,” VanDyken said.

Those working on the project are trying to carry on his legacy and enthusiasm for the rink.

“There was a word that Frank always used in every conversation that I had with him and that word was ‘wonderful.’ Everything that Frank saw was able to be a part of was wonderful to him and I think we carry that on,” VanDyken said.

One of Kraai’s requests was to have the park offer curling.

“We will not have a regulation-size curling rink, but we will have a curling rink. It’s already been poured and that, I think, is gonna be very popular,” VanDyken said.

The city expects the buildings to be complete in the spring and the rink ready to open around this time next year.

“People love being down here and this is just going to be another reason for people to come and enjoy downtown,” VanDyken said.