Fans of the Sculpture Garden’s annual ice skating rink take note: Shaw will be getting its own this winter.
That’s right, come December, The Lake Shaw Ice Rink will open at the site of the Old City Farm and Guild, situated on the 900 block of Rhode Island Ave. NW. The rink is the result of a collaboration between Old City Farm and Guild owner Frank Asher and Urban Neighborhood Alliance President Lee Granados.
A second generation Washingtonian, Granados is an active community organizer, having organized events like the 17th Street Festival. Granados tells DCist that earlier this year, she and Asher “started the conversation about what we could do that would be fun and educational for the community, focused a little bit around sustainability and gardening, but also have something for everyone.” Granados, who has children in the D.C. Public School system has also been heavily involved with organizing DCPS community events. Although the idea of something built around sustainability and gardening may have died, the idea for the Lake Shaw Ice Rink was eventually born out of it.
But the Lake Shaw Ice Rink won’t just be a slab of ice stuck in the ground. Granadas plans to bring a distinct sense of neighborhood history and art into the project. “It’s going to tap into the history of the Shaw district,” she says. As a native to D.C., originally from Dupont, Granadas has witnessed and been a part of the change in the city over the years. “I’ve seen and witnessed a lot, particularly in terms of the changing neighborhoods and demographics,” she says. “There’s just so much that most people don’t realize. I think there’s a very creative art factor we can tap into there.” Granadas says that part of the inspiration for the cultural and artistic factor of the Lake Shaw Ice Rink is the neighborhood’s history with German immigrant population.
Granados also says that, with the Lake Shaw Ice Rink, they wanted to do something that would “build on the night life in and around Shaw, but give something to the community that doesn’t really exist and they can do in the winter.” That means that, yes, there will be food and drinks (beer, even!) available at the ice rink. They plan to get in contact with restaurants in the area, to really incorporate the community business aspect. “We are playing with some beverage options,” Granadas says, “Dacha is right down the street and I think the German aspect could be very appropriate… We [want] to be very strategic. I want it to be very focused on the area and the street. I could go after a lot of different beer companies—national and in the city—but when you have one right there in the neighborhood, and it’s a small business that you can help build and promote, that’s really important to us.”
But don’t expect the Lake Shaw Ice Rink to be just another party destination for District millennials to cut loose. “If you want to really go party, come skate for a little bit, but the partying is probably best done at the bars and the restaurants,” Granados says.
