They used to walk to the Ashland rink; now they sell pizza slices and juice to raise bus money to get to Medford

By Holly Dillemuth, Ashland.news

MEDFORD – When you give a dragon a pair of ice skates, what will they do?

They’ll take a lap around the indoor ice arena at The Rrrink in Medford, maybe more than 22.

Around 80 second and third-graders from three classes at Helman Elementary School in Ashland, whose mascot happens to be a dragon, took to the ice at The Rrrink in Medford Thursday morning, continuing an annual tradition at the school to introduce students to ice skating. 

Helman teachers fundraised $1,200 during the fall by selling pizza slices and juice for the annual field trip, which this year included a bus to and from Helman Elementary and The Rrrink in Medford instead of the Ashland Rotary Centennial Ice Rink, which is closed due to permitting issues.

Students trickled into the rink’s lobby Tuesday, finding their size of skates and learning to get them well-tied.

Students, some with parents or a teacher in tow, made their way around the ice arena, some experiencing spills, some gliding with experience under their skates, many grinning from ear to ear.

Helman Elementary teacher Tanner Marks assisted students as they got ready. Growing up in Yreka, he said, while ice skating is prominent in Ashland, there weren’t a lot of opportunities for him unless he traveled to the City of Mt. Shasta.

“We would come up from Yreka to go to Roller Odyssey,” Marks said, referencing a now-closed roller rink from the 1990s and 2000s.

He wanted his students to at least try ice skating, because otherwise, “you’ll never know.

“I think this is a good opportunity to be courageous.” 

A young skater walked up to the fifth-year teacher, clad in hockey skates and grinned: “Got my skates on!” she said.

He grinned back and directed her where to go.

“Once everybody gets laced up, they’re going to take us out there and give us a safety talk,” Marks said.

Sueann Ripley, learn-to-skate director for The Rrrink, gave students pointers on ways to stay steady on the ice before they stepped on the ice.

“I would say that even Olympic skaters fall, so it’s OK,” Ripley told Ashland.news.

Helman Elementary teacher Kelly Martin, who teaches a blend of second and third grade, has been taking her classrooms ice skating every year, minus during the COVID-19 pandemic, for the past 16 years, though the tradition has been in place longer.

“I am not a skater,” Martin said with a laugh. “I rely on my parents to do the skating.”

In the past, Helman has brought larger groups of students to The Rrrink when they had more students attending and with a “buddy system,” where older students would serve as buddies for younger.

This year, fundraising for the field trip was introduced to make sure the bus to and from Medford was funded, as well as ice skating at The Rrrink.

“If classes don’t have a fundraising system, then you’re having to charge parents for the buses and the ice skating, which is a lot,” Martin said.

“It does present a challenge in that way that we have to bus them,” Martin added.

“I’m so grateful we have this as a backup,” Martin said of The Rrrink.

Ashland parent Andrew Forbes skated on Tuesday with his daughter, Rhys, 7.

Before going out on the ice, Forbes lamented not being able to skate every day at the Ashland rink like he and his family do each winter, “ever since (Rhys) could walk.”

“It’s a huge impact on the community,” Forbes said. 

He also noted the cost differences between Medford and Ashland rinks.

“Hopefully next year ….” Forbes added, of having the Ashland rink open to the community.

While lacing up her own skates, Ashland parent and 13-year resident Alex Strouf echoed Forbes’ sentiments as she waited for her 7-year-old daughter, Evelyn Johnson, to arrive.

“It’s a real bummer,” Strouf said of the Ashland rink closure by Ashland Parks & Recreation.

“We waited so long for the snow and the cold this year,” she added. “Coming to Medford’s never great. We used to walk (to the Ashland rink).”

She praised the Parent Teachers Association, who she said, “are trying to make it work,” but we noted that parents are already paying high taxes.

Strouf still planned to have fun skating with her daughter, despite the changes this year.

“I’m from Wisconsin,” Strouf said, referencing ice rink roots.

Ashland parent Vinnessa Likewise came to the rink on Tuesday to watch her son, Kasey, 9, skate. The mother and son have lived in Ashland since 2018 and have also frequented Ashland’s ice rink a couple times a year in the past.

“We know this place was up here … but it’s just not as convenient (as Ashland’s rink),” Vinnessa said. “For us, the other nice thing about Ashland is we could just walk there, we could spend some time at the park afterwards and just hang out. Here it’s a whole trip because we have to drive and then drive back.”

Vinnessa, who said she wore three layers to handle the cold, said second and third-graders have come to look forward to the tradition of going ice skating as a class.

“He kind of just thinks of it as a fun thing,” Vinnessa added, of her son, Kasey.  “He said, ‘it’s not something that he wants to do all the time, but he enjoys it.’”

Susan Hollandsworth, principal at Helman Elementary, spoke with Ashland.news by phone on Wednesday about the annual tradition. Hollandsworth came out of retirement in 2025 to serve in the role. She said the tradition goes back to when she was principal nearly two decades ago at the school.

“Ice skating — It’s difficult to learn,” Hollandsworth said. “But when you watch kids, they’re holding hands, they’re supporting each other, they’re having fun. They slip and fall, it doesn’t hurt. They’re willing to take risks, it’s a community-builder.”

“There’s always people there to help them move around the rink,” Hollandsworth added, “and you can hang onto the wall and make your own way around. It’s lovely.”

Hollandsworth remembers when the field trip was in its earlier years, back during her first tenure as principal when she arrived at Helman in 2005. The tradition was going strong before then and since where Helman students, in addition to other Ashland schools, would take a walk to the Ashland Rotary Centennial Ice Rink across from Lithia Park. 

This year, the school has adapted the tradition to a bus ride to Medford’s The Rrrink and back.

“I hope they get their permit and get it up and running so that next year, the children can get back to the tradition,” Hollandsworth said. “I just think it’s an important Ashland, fun tradition. And it’s good for business because the more people that come in to the skating rink, they’re going to restaurants, they’re shopping in our shops.”

The Rrrink has seen an uptick in skaters overall since the closure of Ashland’s rink by about 30%, according to Bobby Ruddle, assistant manager of The Rrrink, noting there is usually an increase in skaters over the holiday break in late December.

Ruddle, who played on the former Spartans hockey team and who now owns the Rogue Valley Royal’s hockey team, noted that group field trips like Helman Elementary gives youth exposure to ice skating or the ice rink and all of the other programs it offers.

“We get a bunch of kids (who) have never skated in their life and they can usually pick it up once they get a few of those pointers,” Ruddle said. 

“Every single year, there are kids who have never been on ice skates and they come and this is their opportunity to skate and they realize they’re good at it, they realize they like it; it’s a new skill that they obtain that they’ve never done before and so it’s really a neat thing.”

Reach Ashland.news reporter Holly Dillemuth at [email protected].

Jan. 9: Corrected age of Kasey Likewise.

Related stories:

Ashland ice rink canopy needs further reinforcement (Jan. 8, 2025)

Ashland parks commission to review ice rink closure, Winburn Way safety project during Wednesday study session (Jan. 5, 2025)

Silence from city fuels uncertainty over Ashland Parks & Rec director’s future (Dec. 19, 2025)

Parks & Rec: Ashland Rotary Centennial Ice Rink won’t open this season (Dec. 11, 2025)

Ashland ice rink might not open this season (Dec. 4, 2025)

Permitting snag delays Ashland Rotary Centennial Ice Rink opening (Nov. 21, 2025)

City’s ice rink to get important updates in coming season (Sept. 18, 2024)

Aging Ashland ice rink infrastructure may have to be replaced, commissioners told (May 2, 2024)

Ice rink issues, parking on Winburn Way through Lithia Park top APRC special meeting agenda Wednesday (May 1, 2024)