The Ice Ribbon at Grand Junction Plaza opens Saturday, November 21, and runs through January 2, 2027, with skating on 19 dates in that six-week span. Every visit is a timed 90-minute session that you buy online before you arrive, at $10 per skater with skate rental included. Tickets went on sale November 6 at 8 a.m. through the City of Westfield's Ice Ribbon ticket page, and a processing fee is added at checkout.
So a trip to the rink starts with picking a start time. This year the plaza also looks different around the rink.
How the Weeks Lay Out
According to the 2026–27 rink guide from Indy's Child, sessions start every two hours. Thursdays and Fridays run from 4 to 7:30 p.m., Saturdays from noon to 7:30 p.m., and the winter-break weekdays from 2 to 7:30 p.m. There are no sessions on Sundays, Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year's Eve or New Year's Day. Here is how that lines up with the 19 published dates.
| Week | Skating dates | Session start times |
|---|---|---|
| Opening weekend | Sat., Nov. 21 | Noon, 2, 4, 6 p.m. |
| Thanksgiving weekend | Fri., Nov. 27; Sat., Nov. 28 | Fri. 4 and 6 p.m.; Sat. noon, 2, 4, 6 p.m. |
| First week of December | Thu., Dec. 3; Fri., Dec. 4 | 4 and 6 p.m. |
| Dec. 5 | Westfield in Lights, special sessions | Separate schedule |
| Second week of December | Thu., Dec. 10; Fri., Dec. 11; Sat., Dec. 12 | Thu. and Fri. 4 and 6 p.m.; Sat. noon, 2, 4, 6 p.m. |
| Third week of December | Thu., Dec. 17; Fri., Dec. 18; Sat., Dec. 19 | Thu. and Fri. 4 and 6 p.m.; Sat. noon, 2, 4, 6 p.m. |
| Christmas week | Mon., Dec. 21 through Wed., Dec. 23; Sat., Dec. 26 | Weekdays 2, 4, 6 p.m.; Sat. noon, 2, 4, 6 p.m. |
| New Year's week | Mon., Dec. 28 through Wed., Dec. 30; Sat., Jan. 2 | Weekdays 2, 4, 6 p.m.; Sat. noon, 2, 4, 6 p.m. |
Before Christmas week, the rink runs only Thursday through Saturday, and on Thursdays and Fridays it opens after the school day. Most daytime skating is on Saturdays. The exception is the six winter-break weekdays, when afternoon sessions start at 2 p.m. The first Monday-through-Wednesday sessions of the season come on December 21.
If you add up the published start times, there are 56 regular sessions this season. Only 18 of them start before 4 p.m. Twelve are the noon and 2 p.m. Saturday slots, and the other six are the 2 p.m. starts on the winter-break weekdays.
Ninety Skaters per Slot
Each session holds up to 90 skaters. Fifty-six sessions with 90 spots each comes to about 5,040 tickets for the season, and the noon and 2 p.m. Saturday sessions cover most of the daytime hours. A household with a Saturday afternoon in mind has six Saturdays to pick from: November 21 and 28, December 12, 19 and 26, and January 2.
The rules are short. All ages can skate. Rental skates come in youth sizes 10.5 through 6, women's 4 through 15 and men's 6 through 13. You can bring your own skates if they have no toe picks. Skate aids are free and go first come, first served. The rink doesn't offer lessons.
To get a household onto the ice:
- Pick the date from the table above, keeping in mind that Thursday and Friday sessions start at 4 p.m. at the earliest.
- Buy one ticket per skater for a specific start time on the city's ticket page.
- Check the rental size range above, or confirm that your own skates have no toe picks.
- Plan to park on Union or Mill Street or in the public lot at Park and Poplar Streets, all free. Accessible spaces are on Mill Street.
Questions go to the parks department at [email protected] or (317) 804-3150.
December 5 Runs on Its Own Schedule
The first Saturday in December isn't on the regular calendar. On that day the plaza hosts Westfield in Lights, which the City of Westfield's event calendar lists for Saturday, December 5, 2026, from 3 to 6 p.m. Indy's Child reports that the city's Westfield in Lights page lists three special skating sessions that day, with a fee, and puts the tree lighting at 6 p.m.
Those special sessions follow different rules from the regular Saturday slots. Anyone who wants to skate and then stay for the evening should check the Westfield in Lights page instead of the weekly pattern.
Why the Rink Opens in Any Weather
The weather never cancels the schedule because the rink isn't real ice. It's a synthetic surface called Glice. The rink first opened on November 18, 2023, according to Current in Westfield's coverage of the debut. Its 8,300-square-foot footprint was designed for the plaza, with a larger rink-style area joined to a narrower loop. The city said synthetic panels need no water and no energy for freezing, and they don't have real ice's trouble with warm weather. Before the second season, Current reported that the city bought the custom rink for just over $500,000, owns it outright, and has a 12-year warranty on the panels.
Westfield Director of Communications Kayla Arnold described what families noticed in that first season in Current's November 2024 preview:
"It's not wet. It's not real ice. So, when those kiddos might be skating for the first time or they're new to it and they fall, they don't get wet. They don't get cold. People really enjoyed that aspect of it."
In the same article, Arnold said the city had raised capacity slightly after year one and bought more very small skates. A Hamilton County Tourism grant paid for two ADA-accessible sleds, which let skaters who use wheelchairs or can't walk be pushed around the ribbon. The rink also has an ADA-accessible entrance.
Because the surface holds up in any weather, the calendar decides when you can skate. Open dates stay open even on warm days.
The Brewery at the Other End of the Plaza
The rink sits at the north end of Grand Junction Plaza. At the plaza's eastern end, at 133 S. Union St. on the northeast corner of Union and Jersey Streets, Sun King Brewery opened its third Hamilton County location in 2026, after Carmel and Fishers. According to Current's April report, the building stands where Westfield's first firehouse once stood, and the city asked Sun King to work that history into the design.
Two food concepts from restaurateur Ali Awad share one kitchen there. Stacked House downstairs serves smash burgers, pulled pork, fish tacos, wings, giant soft pretzels and salads. Upper House Social upstairs serves shareable plates Awad described as "upscale."
Sun King's posted hours line up well with the rink's. Sun King Westfield is open 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday, 11 a.m. to midnight Friday and Saturday, noon to 9 p.m. Sunday, and 3 to 10 p.m. Monday and Tuesday. It doesn't take formal reservations. A 6 p.m. session ends at 7:30, while Sun King is still open, and on the winter-break weekdays a 4 p.m. session ends after the brewery's Monday and Tuesday 3 p.m. opening. On Sundays, when the rink is closed, the brewery still opens at noon.
Troy Gregory, Sun King's vice president of retail operations, told Current the location's appeal is "the big park across the street," describing it as "Five steps across the road, and you're in Grand Junction Park."
A few other places nearby post current hours on their own sites:
- Nyla's, 211 Park Street, made-from-scratch dining with online ordering.
- The Italian House, on Park Street, Italian food built on classic recipes, with online ordering.
- Stella's Ice Cream, 170 Jersey St., Suite 190, open daily.
Jersey Street runs along the north side of Grand Junction Plaza. Stella's address is in The Union at Grand Junction, the mixed-use building Mayor Scott Willis pointed to in April when he described the downtown filling in.
Sessions are 90 minutes, Saturday is the only day with a noon start, and Thursday and Friday sessions start no earlier than 4 p.m. Plan the walk to dinner after skating around those times.
Six weeks of booked skating sessions, a new brewery facing the plaza and new storefronts on Jersey Street all change what a short walk to Union Street offers in winter. If you live near downtown Westfield and want to know how that shows up in your home's value, The Home Experts can put the numbers in front of you. Request a free market valuation and we'll walk you through what homes near Grand Junction Plaza are selling for right now.
