CAROLINA BEACH — The Carolina Beach Town Council voted unanimously at its September meeting to provide seed funding for a temporary ice rink to be set up on its Boardwalk next to Hurricane Alley’s this holiday.
Pleasure Island Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Jim DeGilio presented plans to council on Sept. 8 to request $50,000 in initial funding for a rink. It will be operational from November through January annually.
“We’re requesting $50,000 through TDA funds [tourism development authority] as a one-time seed fund,” he told council members, which the dollars come from occupancy room taxes. “We hope to in subsequent years make this something that we can pay for every year out of the profits and other monies.”
This year’s rink dates are scheduled from Nov. 27 to Jan. 3 — Monday through Thursday, 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. and Friday and Saturday, 12 p.m. to 11 p.m. On Sundays, the rink will be open from 1 p.m. to 9 p.m. It also will have limited hours on holidays, including Christmas Eve and Day and New Year’s Eve and Day: Dec. 24, 2 p.m. to 7 p.m.; Dec. 25, 3 p.m. to 8 p.m.; Dec. 31, 2 p.m. to 9 p.m., and Jan. 1, 2 p.m. to 8 p.m.
“Who doesn’t love ice skating? Who doesn’t love ice skating at the beach? Who doesn’t love ice skating at the beach in North Carolina?” DeGilio asked.
“And at Christmas,” Mayor Lynn Barbee and Mayor Pro Tem Deb LeCompte said.
The rink fits into the chamber’s goal of attracting people to the island during the shoulder season and bringing more tourism dollars to the area.
LeCompte agreed with DeGilio saying it’s the town and commerce’s job to bring more events that help drive business: “Christmas by the Sea was created as a shoulder-season event to bring business to the Boardwalk.”
DeGilio said if the extended seasonal event proves Carolina Beach can sustain year-round tourism, he believed it would be a draw for other entrepreneurs to consider the island as its home base. He added feedback from business owners in place have been positive. Some are taking a reprieve from downsizing in the off season this year, a frequent approach for restaurants, bars and other businesses that reduce crews to brace for the slower months in beach towns.
“A few have said they don’t want to bring in new staff for seven weeks during the holiday season, lay them off again and bring them back in April,” DeGilio said, noting that keeping key staff is a benefit and helps the economy overall.
While the rink would be publicly accessible five days a week for open skating, Mondays and Tuesdays would be reserved for special events such as figure-skating exhibitions, skate lessons or private parties. According to DeGilio, someone even suggested a pickleball tournament on ice skates.
He added the chamber has reached out to the state’s hockey team, Carolina Hurricanes, who won the 2026 Stanley Cup for the second time in franchise history — 20 years after their first. DeGilio hoped the team could bring down a replica of the trophy.
“People can take pictures with it and those sorts of things,” he said. “Get some of the players down here to sign autographs, maybe do some exhibitions on the ice.”
There also will be vendors set up at the rink for folks to buy items during the holiday season. Barbee liked the idea of the town having a “Christmas Village,” though DeGilio said it’s still in its infancy. This year around the rink will have tent spaces for people to sell hot chocolate and cookies, gift ideas and more.
“I have done research and there is a company that builds little wooden houses,” he said, noting they’re collapsible and go flat, but essentially can be used to imitate a German market during the holidays. “They’re about $5,000 each so we would have to figure out how to pay for those at some point. But if we could have those encircling the rink, that’s kind of an aspirational thing.”
“I absolutely love this,” council member Jay Healy said.
LeCompte agreed: “I’m a Christmas freak anyway.”
Their colleague, Wayne Rouse, asked if there would be any other costs for the town, to which DeGilio pointed to placing chillers under the ice rink, but he didn’t have initial estimates.
Healy wondered if the parking lot where the rink will be located — between Cape Fear Boulevard and Carolina Beach Avenue, near Silver Dollar and Hurricane Alley’s — needed additional work in preparation. DeGilio explained it would have to be leveled a bit, though the lot is in good shape for the most part.
The ice rink will open the day after Thanksgiving.
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