Ice rink is a good idea at the wrong time

An ice rink in the Pony Express Pavilion seems to be the right idea at the wrong time.

Although it's been a few years since we've been on skates, the idea of another recreational opportunity in Carson City has broad appeal - especially one that could well bring people to the capital because they don't have a lot of ice-skating choices in the region.

The problem is not with an ice-skating rink. It's with the programs - in-line hockey, especially - that would be displaced.

Yes, the pavilion was originally envisioned as a skating arena when it was built a dozen years ago. That didn't work out, and Marv Teixeira - mayor then, mayor now - took a lot of ribbing over the city's failure to find a really good use for the place.

Since its debut with a Three Dog Night concert in 1993, the $2 million pavilion has seen several concerts, farmers markets and car shows. The Nevada Appeal even held a communitywide garage sale there.

Although it has never lived up to its promise, the Pony Express Pavilion has nevertheless become a useful facility. Many of the events there could take place nowhere else in Carson City.

When few others wanted anything to do with the big barn, in-line hockey players organized their leagues and began building a grassroots recreational program. It has succeeded, and now the Pony Express Pavilion is crucial to its future.

The list of recreational needs and wants for Carson City is a long and expensive one. We'd like to add an ice-skating rink to it, but it probably wouldn't be at the top. And it shouldn't be at the expense of another activity.