Loading...
6.a Staff Report-PW Staff Report Date of Meeting: 2/2/2026 For: PRC From: Charles Fischer – Director of Public Works Subject: PW-Vinterfest Review Over the last five years, Public Works has been assisting more each year for the Vinterfest event. A majority of the time and materials spent have been supporting The Minnesotan Cup Tournament, which is operated and managed by a private entity. The Minnesotan lists on their advertisement: “Total net proceeds will be donated to improve and maintain Scandia's outdoor rink facility.”. Public Works has discovered that the donated proceeds have been very minimal since The Minnesota n Cup came into existence (previously known as the Scanley Cup which was operated and managed by the City then turned over to the Minnesotan Cup). This report is to help highlight the cost associated with prepping, maintaining, and clean up involved to support the Minnesotan Cup event held within the overall Vinterfest festivities and the disparity between donation, the cost to the City and the benefit to the rink and community. As the winter weather has become more volatile (highs and lows) establishing and maintaining the ice rinks has become a challenge. Not only are we experiencing rapid high and low temperature fluctuations, the average winter temperatures, December thru February, are increasing every year. The Minnesota winter average temperature has increased 8 degrees since 1960, sourced from Meteorologist Sven Sungaard. That may sound like a long period of time, but really is a short period of time. This continual warming is in fact causing additional work necessary to establish and maintain the ice rink within a shorter period of time , when temperatures allow for outdoor ice to be consistently maintained. Each year is different and some years it may be perceived as being ‘easy’ to prep for the tournament; while some may be better, others are difficult such as this year 2026, with numerous rain and snow events with unseasonable high temperatures and extreme low temperatures. All of the work completed on the ice rinks is strategically scheduled in between all these extremes, is very limited, and to not expend overtime hours budgeted for snow and ice control or infrastructure emergencies. Leading up to The Minnesotan Cup not only involves establishing the ice for our normal rink season, but also requires additional flooding to ensure an adequate depth of ice is developed. Additional ice depth is necessary to support the continuous skating and resurfacing during the tournament. Increasing the thickness of the ice reduces the chance of causing a hazardous condition of concrete being exposed. To accomplish an adequate amount of ice requires additional water applications prior to the tournament by Public Works staff. Additional water applications are also required after the tournament so that the ice levels are built back up to safe levels. All of this work is done as addition to what would normally be required to maintain the rinks. Public Works enjoys maintaining the rinks for our residents to use and love, supported by comments from our social media faithful that let us know how we are doing and show their appreciation. Unfortunately, due to the added care and maintenance the tournament requires, places a cost burden on Public Works and the equipment to operate the ice rink. Over the course of two weeks ; pre, during and post tournament almost all of the maintenance completed is due to the tournament. The requirements include extra flooding before and after the tournament, additional edging of the ice to board interface around the rink, stagging items around the ice rink, cleaning up after the event of areas where the tournament coordinators staff miss, and the wages for the operator(s) required to run the Zamboni from 3pm Friday through 11pm Saturday. When added together the total cost for Public Works to support this event is estimated over $5,000. When comparing the costs required to prep and maintain the ice rink for the Minnesotan Cup to the donation received by The Minnesotan Cup for holding their tournament during Vinterfest the disparity is in Public Works opinion, discouraging. The cost to the City to hold this tournament is significant and should be evaluated if the burden of cost is truly benefitting the community who are fiscally supporting this tournament. Other concerns, shared with Public Works, have been witnessed during the Minnesotan Cup of which question the tournament being a family friendly event. Incidents over the years during the course of the weekend, include fights taking place and verbal altercations between players happening on and off the ice. The tent area which serves adult beverages also creates an atmosphere not normally found to capture a family friendly event. Public Works is reporting this information to the committee so that everyone can be informed of the negative atmosphere felt by our residents and others willing to share their experience when attending or knowledge of the tournament during Vinterfest. Due to the number of concerns reported to Public Works, a request to the Parks Committee by Public Works is to spend time weighing options for future Vinterfest events on how to utilize the ice rinks for a more family friendly atmosphere. One notable idea would be to host a youth hockey tournament to coincide with Vinterfest’s advertisement of being a family friendly event. If a youth hockey tournament would be entertained for a future Vinterfest , the possibility to work with other local Cities could expand the tournament utilizing other outdoor rinks; Chisago, Forest Lake, etc. bringing communities together. Tournament coordination can be handled by a youth hockey association and would not add any additional volunteer needs by this committee, similar to how the tournament is run currently. Another option would be to have an open skate event open to everyone to skate during Vinterfest. This option would help offset the rinks being monopolized by the practices scheduled Monday-Thursday every evening. Food trucks and other amenities could go along with an open skating event. Public Works offers these suggestions as other City’s have been successful with the same or similar events suggested, in line with the atmosphere this event advertises, and beneficial to the community. If you have any questions regarding this report, please reach out to me via email or phone.