Bristol-Plainville Outdoor Ice Skating Conditions

I checked out 2 different places local to the Bristol-Plainville Connecticut area this weekend for outdoor ice skating.

Plainville Middle School has an iced over pond cleared off for skating.  It is unsupervised and does not get a lot of use.  It's a good spot for some pick up pond hockey.  This is a natural, mostly untended surface, so conditions were a little rough this weekend.  There were a lot of bumps and snow patches.  However, it was skatable.  You need to go during daylight since there are no lights.  If there's snow, bring your shovel to clear off a spot.

The volleyball courts at Stocks Playground in Bristol were iced over and open for public skating.  The conditions are slightly better than in Plainville, although about a third of the rink was blocked off due to poor conditions.  Lights are available for evening skating, but the area is supervised.  The public can only skate during certain hours.  The exact hours are available on the Bristol town website under the Parks Department section.  The weekend hours are something like noon to 5 PM.  During the week the rink is open until 6 PM, although I'm not sure when it opens.  Otherwise, the gate to the fence is locked.  The rink is rather small (about the size of 3 volleyball courts) and crowded, and hockey is not allowed due to the congestion.  However, usually the ice is pretty smooth, and there are benches available.