ORANGE BEACH, Ala. – It got so chilly in Orange Beach the weekend before Thanksgiving, an ice skating rink popped up at The Wharf.

Well, maybe not that chilly, but as part of the Coastal Christmas celebration on Pleasure Island, an ice skating rink did pop up in the parking deck behind Ginny Lane at The Wharf.

The Alabama Gulf Coast Chamber of Commerce and Gulf Shores and Orange Beach Tourism, along with local businesses are spearheading the effort to make the area a Christmas destination.

The ice rink will be a part of the kick-off weekend as it opens on Friday at 10 a.m. Admission is $8 and includes skates. For $10 you can skate and get a ride on The Wharf’s Ferris wheel.

“We’ll have all kinds of concessions and hot chocolate and will have the restaurant, Ginny Lane, right there,” Wharf General Manager Marla Warner said. “It is covered so we won’t be impacted by rain. It will be open and operable the full time. There are bleachers there for mom and dad there to watch.”

A company called Ice Rink Events began the work on Thursday, continued through Friday and started making ice on Saturday. Sunday the ice was four inches thick.

“We do this all over the world from India to Hong Kong,” Project Manager Dave Pritchard said. “We’re probably 35 rinks into 50 we’ll do this year.”

Warner said the company levels off a spot on the parking lot with wood and sand and rows and rows of piping are laid on top of the sand.

“It’s like a great big coil that you wrap inside the ice,” Gray said. “We’ve got several tractor trailers coming in with piping and they will essentially unwrap the coils up and down the ice skating rink over and over again. We build this great big sandbox and once that’s built they lay in the pipes.”

Prichard said the pipes are frozen by a huge compressor before the water is added.

“It’s not like making a swimming pool,” he said. “We drop the tubes to zero degrees and we start spraying them with water. The water freezes to the pipe and they we spray more water on that til it freezes. It will take about two days for the ice to build up.

“It builds up over time once we get that chiller cranked up.”

Each night more water will be sprayed on to fill in the ruts to get the surface ready for the next day, Warner said.

Hours of operation will be from 10 a.m.-10 p.m. Thanksgiving weekend, but will drop back to 4 p.m.-10 p.m. Monday through Friday and 10 a.m.-10 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays.

After the Friday kick off, there is an entire slate of events including church concerts, tree lightings, several Santa Claus events, open houses and parades. For a complete listing including times and dates, visit coastalchristmas.com.

For more information about events at The Wharf visit alwharf.com