Walnut Creek's Rink Opens With the Tree Lighting. Its Longer Days Start the Morning After.

Walnut Creek on Ice returns to Civic Park on Friday, November 20, for its 21st season. That same evening, the city lights its holiday tree a few steps away. The rink opens on its ordinary Friday hours. Starting Saturday, November 21, it switches to a holiday schedule that puts skaters on the ice in the morning, and that schedule runs through Thanksgiving weekend.

For anyone who lives nearby, the ten days after the tree lighting are the only stretch of all-day weekday skating before winter break begins on December 19. They also overlap with Broadway Plaza's Thanksgiving weekend events.

Friday Night in Civic Park

Here's the November 20 sequence. The rink opens at 4 p.m. on its non-holiday Friday window and closes at 10:30 p.m., according to the Walnut Creek on Ice season page. The free Holiday Tree Lighting runs 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. at 1375 Civic Drive, with hot cocoa, carolers and Frosty the Snowman. The City of Walnut Creek and the Walnut Creek Downtown Association present it together.

The rink's address is 1365 Civic Drive, so the ceremony and the ice share a block. Bay Area Telegraph noted that this makes it easy to combine the two into one evening downtown. In practice, a 90-minute skate session booked before 5:30 ends in time for the lighting, or one booked after 6:30 starts once it's over. Sessions are priced per person, and the rink is completely cashless. You can book online or pay on-site with approved digital payment methods.

The same outlet quoted Kathy Hemmenway from the season announcement: "After 21 years, we've seen kids grow up on this ice and come back with families of their own."

The Holiday Schedule Starts Saturday

The season page lists three holiday periods: November 21 to 30, December 19 to January 4, and January 19. During those windows, weekday hours are 10 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. On regular Monday-to-Thursday afternoons outside them, the rink runs 4 to 7:30 p.m.

That's 11.5 hours of skating on a holiday weekday, compared with 3.5 on an ordinary one. The first holiday stretch covers the Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday before Thanksgiving, then the Friday after it and the following Monday. From December 1 until winter break starts on December 19, weekday skating shrinks back to the after-school window.

On Thanksgiving itself the rink opens at 6 p.m. and closes at 9:30. That leaves room for one evening session after the meal.

Where Broadway Plaza Fits In

Broadway Plaza's events calendar has four Sounds of the Street performance dates in November: the 8th, 14th, 21st and 27th. It also lists a Makers Market on Saturday, November 28, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Two of those four performances, and the market, land inside the rink's first holiday window. The calendar repeats the pairing once more before the year ends: a second Makers Market is listed for Saturday, December 19, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., the same day the rink's winter-break hours begin. Between those two Saturdays, Broadway Plaza also lists a Holiday Parade of Lights & Tree Lighting on Thursday, December 3, from 6 to 8 p.m.

The plaza has also changed some since summer. Beyond the Creek reported in October that Touro Luggage moved within the center into the space Gorjana used to occupy. The same outlet reported that State & Liberty was back in its original spot as of October 13, after a temporary move during renovations.

A Weeknight Meal Between Sessions

The newest spot near the plaza is MIXT. It opened in October in the former Genova Delicatessen space, which the company describes as steps from Broadway Plaza, with its own parking lot. MIXT serves salads, warm bowls and sandwiches and is open daily from 10:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Those hours line up closely with the rink's holiday weekdays, which run until 9:30 p.m. That makes it an easy fit for a family trying to work an early dinner around a skating session.

Other places are coming but don't have opening dates yet. Beyond the Creek reports that Shabu Go, a hot-pot restaurant, is headed for the former California Pizza Kitchen space at Agora at South Main. It also reports that Salt & Lime plans to open at 1521 N. Main St., where Oyama Sushi used to be. Neither has announced a date. Gelato is closer: WhatNow reports that Bacio di Latte plans a December 11 grand opening at 1500 Mt. Diablo Blvd., in the former Vineyard Vines space.

Getting Downtown Without Surprises

What you'll pay to park depends on how long you stay, and a skating outing almost always runs past the free hour. The City of Walnut Creek's parking page says downtown garages are open 24 hours and the first hour is free. After that, the Broadway, Lesher Center and South Locust garages charge $1.25 an hour. Meters in the downtown core cost $2 an hour. A 90-minute session plus the walk to and from the garage goes past the free hour, so the garage rate is usually the cheaper option.

If you usually walk or bike in from the south, there's one change. Contra Costa County Public Works closed the Robert I. Schroder Pedestrian Bridge, which carries the Iron Horse Trail over Treat Boulevard near Jones Road, on October 5. It's scheduled to stay closed through December 31. Trail users are being sent to the street-level crossing on Treat, and detour signs are posted. The county's notice says the work covers new bearing pads, paint repairs, a deck treatment and sidewalk and curb replacement. Construction happens overnight, and the county plans about four nighttime road closures on Treat Boulevard, with a detour of roughly 5 miles.

Before you book, a few rink details are worth knowing:

• The 90-foot Frosty's Summit Ice Slide is a separate attraction and needs its own time slot, so a skate ticket doesn't include it.
• The season page lists skating at $20 and the slide at $20, with skate-and-slide combos starting at $20. Some sections of the site still carry details from last season, so check the ticket page for the final price.
• Rinkside fire pits seat up to four and don't include skate admission.
• Littles Skate, the rink's Wednesday morning session for younger children, has its first listed date on December 2.

Earlier in the Month, Across Civic Drive

Before the rink opens, the Bedford Gallery at 1601 Civic Drive is holding its Cocktails & Conversation evening on Thursday, November 5, from 5:30 to 7 p.m. It's a curator-led tour of High Pile: Concepts in Tufting. The Lesher Center for the Arts lists admission at $30, or $20 for donors. Two weeks later, the tree lighting and the rink's opening night bring the season to the same stretch of Civic Drive.

If a move, a sale or a renovation in Walnut Creek is on your calendar for 2027, Michael Forkas is glad to talk through timing, preparation and positioning on your schedule. Let's Connect.