Warm weather melts Northwest Indiana park’s skating crowd

MERRILLVILLE, Ind. — Unusually warm weather is taking a bite out of a northwestern Indiana park’s revenues from its ice skating plaza.

Lake County Parks Department CEO Robert Nickovich told county council members Thursday that warm weather in the 50s hasn’t helped fill Merrillville’s Deep River Waterpark with skating customers.

The Times of Munster reports that Nickovich says balmy temperatures in the 50s hurt attendance around Thanksgiving at the start of the skating season, but recent weeks have seen some recovery.

The park features a 14,500-square-foot ice plaza, food and beverage locations, heated indoor bathrooms and a birthday party room.

Nickovich said overall park revenues in 2011 were down 20 percent from last year, in part due to a hot summer and a wet, cool spring.