WESTFIELD – Amelia Park Arena recently announced that it was one of six arenas across the country that received the 2020-2021 U.S. Figure Skating Community Development Grant.

Christina Pagella, Amelia Park’s Assistant General Manager, said the grant was for $2,000 and will go directly into providing lessons to children as part of the arena’s Learn to Skate program.

She said, “We wanted to offer free Learn to Skate lessons for kids from 5 to 10 years old for those that may not be able to pay for the program.”

The money from the grant will directly allow 50 kids to participate in one session each tuition free spread across four different sessions. Pagella said that in each session around 13 kids will participate as a result of the grant.

She added the first session begins during the week of Aug. 29 and will last until the week of Oct. 24.

Pagella said that while the grant is important for the arena, it is just as important for the city of Westfield.

“It’s a huge success and a huge honor. It’s amazing for our Westfield community and the surrounding areas. We hope it brings more people into the city to maybe get a coffee or lunch with a local business after the lesson,” she said.

Along with receiving the grant, Pagella said work is already underway to reopen the arena on Aug. 1.

“We are going to start putting the ice back in starting on July 23 and it should take about five days,” she said.

Once the rink reopens, Pagella said they will begin offering their full suite of programs including the public skate, junior puck time, and regular puck time with some restrictions.

“Because of COVID, we are requiring pre-registration for all of our programs. Also, at this time we are following the governor’s guidelines and only allowing up to 25 people on the ice at a time,” she said.

Pagella added that people interested in signing up for any of its programs can head online to ameliaparkarena.org, call the arena, or head inside to grab a registration paper.