Frank Southern Ice Arena Won’t Re-Open This Winter

WFIU | By Patrick Beane

Published February 1, 2021 at 9:34 PM EST

The Frank Southern Ice Arena will not re-open this winter because of safety concerns over COVID-19.

Bloomington Parks and Recreation Department announced Monday that restrictions on crowd sizes was among the leading factors in deciding the arena will stay closed.

The arena has been closed since late November.

"In the grand scheme of our responsibilities, keeping the ice arena closed until this fall is the right decision for the community,” Parks and Recreation Department Director Paula McDevitt said in a news release.

The city tentatively plans to re-open the arena in October.

Patrick Beane

Patrick Beane spent three decades as a journalist at The Herald-Times in Bloomington before joining the staff at WFIU/WTIU News. He began his career at the newspaper after graduating from Indiana University in 1987 and was the sports editor from 2010-2020. His duties at the paper included writing, copy editing, page design and managing the sports department.

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