If you want to go ice skating in DeKalb County you’ve got a long trip ahead of you. The closest rinks are around an hour’s drive from Smithville, leaving many of DeKalb’s youth deprived of the chance of gliding across the ice then falling on their butts a short time later.

But that’s all about to change. Some local Smithville merchants and the City of Smithville are teaming up to give local residents a chance to skate like Nathan Chen or Alexa Knierim. Smithville’s “Skate with a Date” will be held this Friday and Saturday.

According to Smithville Mayor Josh Miller, you don’t have to bring a date to skate during the special event. “Of course families are welcome and it is free to the public, but we are asking for everyone to make a donation, if you can, to the DeKalb Rescue Squad,” Mayor Miller explained. “It would give them a little extra money to function throughout the year.”

The event will be held February 11, from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., and February 12, from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. using a company that sets up a portable skate rink outside. “We’re still working to get some things finalized as to where it will be put this week, but it will be on the square,” Miller said.

“Tony Luna found this company that does this, and secured it,” Miller explained. “There’s been a lot of donations that has come in from business owners downtown, that have made this possible. It’s a portable skate rink and the company will provide the skates up to size 13. Everything will be provided.”

Local businessman Tony Luna said he stumbled on the company by a chance meeting with a client. “The people who own this business are buying a lake house here. They are from Lexington, KY, and we got to talking and we found out what they do for a living. We thought, ‘Man, this would be perfect for Smithville to do.’ It’s not cheap to rent, but some of the local businesses here have chipped in to help offset the cost.”

“We have several sponsors for it. I guess we are a corporate sponsor,” Luna continued. “The DeKalb Rescue Squad is going to man the skate rink both days, and we are asking for donations with the rescue squad getting to keep all the money raised.”

“I’m proud of downtown and what we’ve done in the last couple of years,” Luna concluded. “I still to this day have people say, ‘I didn’t know there was anything downtown.’ We try to have events to bring people here so they can see the changes, and what’s new and what’s coming.”

Primary sponsors for the event are Tony Luna with Lake Homes Realty and The Male Room, while secondary sponsors are Josh and Melissa Miller, Magnolia Roots, Button Willow General Store and Coffe Shop, State Farm Insurance, Tiff’s Bakery, 615 Threads, Cherry’s Beau Bees, Cantrell’s Clothing, The Market on Main, Bates Apparel, Harmony Lane Farm and Creamery, Rock Solid Concrete, Bates Construction, The Purple Door Antiques and Uniques, The Vintage Owl, Town and Lake Realty, Savvy Scrubbs and the Upper Cumberland Tourism Association.

“Everyone is welcome to come out and support it,” said Mayor Miller. “Hopefully we can have more events like this. I think it’s good, especially for our downtown businesses, and if there is anything we can do to draw people to the Square we want to do it.”