Cold weather brought new entertainments and pursuits in McLean County 100 years ago. On this date one pond at Miller Park was declared safe for skating. The ice was ten inches thick and the skaters were out in force. The skating was a little rough however, and many people were urging the park officials to flood the pond and even out the surface of the ice. Skating sweaters, skirts and hats were popular Christmas gifts and were heavily marketed before Christmas.
Where there were no ponds, or unsafe ice, portable ice rinks were set up. One portable rink made the rounds between towns like Atlanta and Heyworth. Some were even used at private homes.
The business of storing ice for household ice boxes was big business. the cutting of the ice provided temporary work for over 300 men. Ice businesses had private ponds from which the ice was cut. George Agle had a pond on the west side and Omar Rawson had a pond on the eastern limits of the city.
Ice skating was not the only kind of skating popular in 1915. Roller skating rinks were in many central Illinois towns. Hunts in Gibson City had a skating rink and Lake Park had a skating rink in Bloomington. Some live vaudeville or variety shows had roller skating performers in the theaters of Bloomington. Later in 1916 the circus came to Bloomington with Pallenbergs Famous Aerial and Skating Bears!
B & M Bread collected bread wrappers as part of a promotion of their bread in Bloomington. The grand prize winner recieved a gold watch, but the five second place winners would win a brand new pair of steel ball bearing skates!
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