Winter in Chicago is a challenging period with the windchill that makes you question your existence and the depressing slush puddles that linger into March, but the coldest season does provide some seasonal joys like ice skating. So why not continue that into the summer?

Navy Pier the summertime destination for locals and all the people visiting that will make traffic on the weekends rage-worthy, is opening an indoor ice skating rink in the recently constructed Polk Bros Park. Tickets will range between $10-15 with operating hours of noon to 10pm every day. It opens to the public tomorrow at 12pm. The rink is 82 feet long and 66 feet wide. It will stay up through out the summer underneath a massive tent with tech installed to keep the ice frozen even during the warmest days this summer. You can bring your own skates or rent a pair.

The rink is inspired by the Polk Bros. summer season ice rink that was originally built to attract customers to their near by furniture store over 50 years ago. The recently constructed Polk Bros Park sits directly outside the western entrance to Navy Pier.

There are several other big expansion coming to the Pier as part of their 100 year celebration in the near future including additional space for the Chicago Shakespeare Theater and a new on-site hotel. If you can ice skate, watch fireworks, and see a movie in IMAX in the same spot, that sounds like a pretty cool spot.

@kevkellam