BEE CAVE, Texas (KXAN) — The city of Bee Cave has placed a down payment on an ice rink in order to bring back its winter celebration, Bee Cave on Ice, for a second season.
The city placed a $50,000 down payment on a new outdoor-ice rink for the celebration coming up next winter after the attraction garnered a lot of success in its inaugural season.
Ice rink doubles city’s population
The outdoor rink more than doubled the population of the city, according to Bee Cave officials.
The city’s population is about 10,000, but the ice rink brought in 25,000 skaters, and the city predicts about 75,000 people came into the city throughout the event.
The city was not able to determine the economic impact the ice rink had, but they know people decided to shop and eat in Bee Cave stores because of the winter spectacle.
Cost of ice rink
Last year, the outdoor rink cost $400,000, with the city putting up $300,000 and the Hill Country Galleria, where the rink was housed, putting up the remaining $100,000.
That price included a lot of one-time payments, Jenny Hoff, communications for the city of Bee Cave, explained. The cost this year will be about $50,000 to $60,000 cheaper than last year.
The city will still have to pay another $250,000, on top of its $50,000 down payment, to complete the purchase of the outdoor rink. Hoff said the city is expecting to get about $70,000 of sponsorships from private businesses in Bee Cave to help with the final cost of the rink.
It has not been fully decided where the money for this rink will come from yet. Hoff said the city is deciding between drawing funds from the hotel occupancy tax fund or from the economic development fund.
The rink will be open to the public starting in November and will stay open all the way through Martin Luther King Jr. Day. The city said it is looking forward to providing the outdoor rink in the next holiday season.
“People just said it felt like a Hallmark movie coming out there. It completely transformed the Galleria during the holiday season. It was a very magical experience,” Hoff said.