 The calendar has turned and the temperature has dipped, which means it's the perfect season for outdoor skating. Clayton Castle shows us the different Brainerd outdoor skating options in this week's Northwoods adventure. With the holiday season behind us, we look forward to the days and weeks ahead in the Northwoods, including what you can do outside during the winter months. If you're around Brainerd, why not lace up the skates for a fun day in the park? We have three hockey rinks in our parks and three pleasure rinks in our parks. We're located at Gregory Park, Bain Park, and Mill Avenue Park. The ice surfaces in each park are a nice smooth surface that is maintained by the Brainerd Parks and Recreation Department five days a week. We have a crew of three or four guys that will go out and flood the rinks. We try to do it on a daily basis, Monday through Friday anyway. Now, many of the skating areas around Brainerd, including this one here at Gregory Park, also offer a wide variety of programming throughout the winter months. Well, we have one large event, so that's our Valentine's Day party. So that'll be on February 10th this year, I believe, yes. And what happens there is we just have a lot of neighbor kids and families, and it's to help bring everyone together. The rinks will last as long as the temperatures are low and the weather is nice. Well, we try to make it into the first week of March. A lot of it hinges on the temperatures. And another thing that we run into is that, even though it may be cold out, the sun's at such a higher angle that it'll start reflecting off the boards and start melting the ice away from the boards. And once you get a foot or two of dirt showing that it's obviously not good for skating, you stop way too quick. So first week of March is usually when we try to make it to. The Brainerd Parks and Recreation Department create these rinks every year to bring the community together in a wintertime classic activity. I think the biggest deal with having rinks available are for the kids that potentially don't have a ride anywhere else, and it's a free way for kids to get outside, even adults to get outside and skate and do something that's physically active. Reporting in Brainerd for this week's Northwood's Adventure Clayton Castle, Lakeland News. If you've enjoyed this segment of Lakeland News, please consider making a tax-deductible contribution to Lakeland Public Television.