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Eagan presents “Skate Eagan” program growth, looks to expand summer and adult offerings
Summary
City staff outlined performance and operational changes at the Eagan Civic Arena, describing the “Skate Eagan” umbrella for skating programs, enrollment trends, user-driven changes such as prepaid skate rentals, and steps to address capacity and year-round visibility.
Mark Vaughn, recreation facilities superintendent for the City of Eagan, told the Eagan Advisory Park and Recreation Commission on Sept. 15 that the Civic Arena’s skating operations are branded under a new umbrella called “Skate Eagan” and are seeing strong participation in several programs.
The rebranding groups figure skating, youth hockey, open skate and other ice activities under a single identity and is intended to increase visibility and customer connection, Vaughn said. “Skate Eagan — give staff credit — they wanted this tagline to go that any skating that we do at the Civic Arena is gonna fall under this umbrella of Skate Eagan,” Vaughn said.
The program’s largest component is the Eagan Skate School. Vaughn said fall registration for the skate school was “about 430,” and that the city has been among the state’s largest skate schools. The league of dedicated instructors includes 24 staff trained through Learn to Skate USA, he said. The department is also experimenting with flexible summer scheduling to attract skaters who do not want an eight-week commitment.
Vaughn and staff described a mix of data-driven and customer-driven changes. After users said repeatedly that stopping to pay $2 for skate rental was a hassle, staff introduced a prepaid skate-rental option that assigns skates in advance. “They asked, can we prepay for those skates so they just show up? … Really successful program for us,” Vaughn said.
The arena runs a regular open-skate schedule and an adult-only open skate that staff said has been particularly popular: “Adults only gonna be over 18 to be out there. We got a lot of senior citizens out there, but they love to keep skating, and it’s a much safer atmosphere for them.” Vaughn said the city is watching capacity limits closely and may add pre-signup to avoid overcrowding.
Other customer-oriented experiments include adding bumper cars during open-skate sessions to introduce non-skaters to the Civic Arena; Vaughn said staff changed the purchase model from online-only to pay-at-the-counter after early sessions showed stronger walk-up demand. He said the $8 bump-car sessions sold out quickly in one public session.
Vaughn also described one-off special events: an annual ice show reworked into a story format with three performances in May and a participation age range “from age 3 to 53.” He said staff transformed the arena from a hockey surface to a production stage for the show, which required volunteer support.
On operations and marketing, Vaughn said staff created a microsite for Civic Arena schedules and bookings to simplify calendar visibility and is working with the city communications team and community events to boost awareness. He also noted seasonal trends: fall and winter are peak seasons; spring and summer have room to grow.
Vaughn stressed affordability and accessibility in programming. “Skating in Eagan is really affordable. We keep it as affordable as we can to give people an opportunity. $2 a student, $3 an adult, skate rentals $2 a pair,” he said.
Looking ahead, staff plan more flexible summer classes, continued promotion to increase year‑round visibility and monitoring of adult-league scheduling as some teams shift toward morning ice to accommodate work schedules. Vaughn said staff will continue to adapt programming based on usage data and patron feedback.
Vaughn paused the presentation after describing Civic Arena operations to take commission questions.
