Fake ice has Appomattox skaters hitting the rink

Thermometers in Appomattox may have read in the 50s Monday, but that didn’t stop schoolchildren, and a few adults, from strapping on ice skates and hitting an outdoor rink.

It wasn’t real ice, but the 2,000-plus-square-foot synthetic rink, in front of the now-vacant Wilbun’s Supermarket, proved another successful community outreach for Liberty Baptist Church.

Matt Meers, the youth and activities pastor for the church, said the setup cost between $5,000 and $6,000 to rent for the week.

The church — which has organized a makeshift water park and had tons of snow trucked in for a day of winter fun — thrives on its community connection, Meers said.

He said church pastor Rusty Small saw a similar setup at an outdoor mall in Richmond, and decided it would be another worthy outreach.

“It really is a commitment on our church’s part to say we really do want to reach out to the community,” said Meers. “We don’t want it to just be about what goes on inside the walls. We want to extend that, to really truly love the community.”

The rink debuted Sunday evening as part of the town’s annual Christmas festivities; it will be open through Friday from noon to 7 p.m. at Wilbuns.  Skating is free, and so are the skates for those who need them.

Judy Hull drove her children — 9-year-old Jeremiah and 7-year-old Chloe — 45 minutes from Buckingham Monday afternoon to give them their first taste of ice skating.

“We heard that they were going to have an ice skating rink, and they’d never been before, so we figured it was a great time to try it,” Hull said.

Asked his favorite part of the day, Jeremiah quickly said, “When you crash into the wall.”

He amended that to, “when I made my turns,” adding, “I want to come back tomorrow!”

Larry Branham and his wife, of Concord, brought their three sons — Connor, 11; Cayden, 6; and Carter, 11 —for their first ice skating experience, too.

Cayden stayed on the ice longer than his brothers, and nodded vigorously — grinning ear-to-ear — when asked if he fell a lot.

“I think it’s fun,” he said, quickly turning around to get back on the rink.

“It’s nice that they do this for the community,” Branham said. “We would definitely love to do it again. They had fun with it.”

Meers said outreach events like this have given him a new perspective on ministry.

“I went to school in theology, but they  never taught me how to do this — how to build floats for Railroad Day and how to put together a floor so that people can skate on it,” he said.

“To me, this is really caring about our community.”