Sureena Johl, manager of the downtown ice rink

Ice, ice baby. Every year, for the past 24 years, winter in Sacramento has brought with it the Downtown Sacramento Holiday Ice Rink, where people can strap on some blades and take to the ice. Or, you know, fall trying. To celebrate the cold chill we’ve been having, SN&R caught up with Sureena Johl, events manager for the Downtown Sacramento Partnership that manages the ice rink, to talk about ice-skating movies, what she loves about downtown Sacramento and being Cupid.

How long does it take to set up the rink?

So, we start construction mid-October every year. It takes us roughly between three to four weeks to not only get the site ready, but to make the ice on site. We basically will start with laying down all the rubber mats. It’s a lot of deliveries, a lot of coordinating things whether it’s with the city or with our vendors. And then it takes us really five days to make the ice itself. There’s just a lot of work on the back end.

What happens if it gets too warm?

Here’s the interesting thing about an outdoor rink. Rain water is actually warmer than frozen water, right? Or even water out of the hose. So anytime we add water to the ice we have to do that at night, when it’s at the coldest temperature. So on days when it’s really sunny or we have a lot of wind, it causes the ice to melt faster. So there are days when, if you come out to the rink, you’ll notice that we have puddles. So, we either have puddles because it’s hot and the way the sun hits and reflects on our ice, there are definitely certain patches that will melt faster. But one of our little tricks is … we keep foam pieces on site and we will cover the patches … to reflect the sun basically, so to provide a shade covering so it’ll freeze faster.

I’m learning so much about ice today.

I know, it’s so funny. I always laugh because I went to the Levi’s Stadium when they had the ice rink last year for the hockey game … and so I was just paying attention. I was like, “Oh, look at their coils. Oh, there are their chillers!” and my family’s looking at me like, “Why do you know what all of this is?”

I’ve never ice skated before.

Oh no! You have to come out.

Well, I’m scared. How often do people fall?

Oh my God, I feel like people fall all the time. Every time you look there’s somebody falling one way or another. But, with that, our staff is really good at helping people get up, giving them the tools to feel confident and to get out on the ice. … I actually just fell a couple weeks ago and had to come up in the office covered in water.

Besides the ice rink, what’s your favorite thing to do in Sacramento during the holidays?

My favorite thing to do during the holiday season, so specifically looking at winter events, is actually Theater of Lights in Old Sacramento. Part of it was, I had never really seen it until two years ago again when I started working for the organization, and by all means my birthday is Christmas Eve, and so I have this mindset of like, “Oh my God, here’s Christmas.” And I remember working that event and being in the center of K Street and looking up and I, as an adult, was just as mesmorized as the kids all around me.

Hot cocoa or hot tea?

Hot cocoa. I love chocolate.

If you could make one thing out of snow, what would it be?

A snowman was my first thought, but an igloo would be cool too. Like the scene in Home Alone where he has to hide in the igloo.

What’s one of the weirdest things you’ve ever seen at the ice rink?

It’s always when the little kids try to go under their parents’ legs. Like, that’s probably not the safest thing to be doing right now. … I always like coordinating proposals at the rink because I get to be the part of somebody’s … this huge moment in their life. The guy will call me and be like, “OK, I need to do this and we’re going to pull up in a limo and I have this song and I need to have it all coordinated.” So I get to kind of be their Cupid for the day.

That was my next question, asking about proposals.

There you go.

What’s your favorite thing about living and working in Sacramento?

For me, it’s being a part of the community and this bigger initiative. I think we can all agree that over the last couple years everyone’s desire to be in downtown Sacramento and be a part of it has definitely grown. So whether you’re looking at the music scene, just there’s a different set of appreciation for local arts and local music and the next chapter of specifically downtown Sacramento.