Last winter Mayor Frank Picozzi had a goal for Warwick's new outdoor rink, and it had nothing to do with figure eights. He doesn't ice-skate. He told the Warwick Beacon he hoped to be out on the ice in a bumper car before the season ended, and his chief of staff called it a "very high priority for the mayor."
The City Council approved the purchase on a 6 to 3 vote: 14 doughnut-shaped electric bumper cars from Ice Bumper Cars International of Colorado, for $123,590. The ice was gone before the cars got into regular use. The Beacon reported the plaza expected to open them to the public in the first week of May, on concrete. That timing explains a lot about the Greenwood Credit Union City Hall Plaza in Apponaug as its second winter approaches. The rink is coming back to a plaza that stayed open all year, with equipment and an event calendar built up while the ice was gone.
The First Winter, Measured
The rink had a soft opening on Dec. 3, 2025. Its public debut came three days later at the Apponaug Winter Festival. On festival day, WPRI reported that skating from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. was free with a nonperishable food donation.
The Beacon later reported that between that Dec. 6 opening and the end of the season in early March 2026, the rink sold 6,800 tickets and brought in $62,000. That revenue figure leaves out sponsorships and the plaza naming rights. That works out to a little over $9 per ticketed visit. The season also lost operating hours to the record-breaking Blizzard of 2026 and to a second, smaller January snowstorm.
Plaza manager Thomas Rourke told the Warwick Beacon the city hadn't set a revenue target for the first year, and he was pleased with the results:
"Certainly, in the beginning there's always excitement around something new. However, I don't think this is a one-off. I think it will sustain."
In the same interview he said visitors were pleasantly surprised by how the plaza looks and liked having a place to make memories with friends and family. He also described the city's main goal as keeping expenses down. That goal is what shaped the off-season.
Why the Bumper Cars Came With Two Sets of Wheels
Before the council vote, Rourke presented the bumper cars as an inclusive option for people who aren't comfortable on skates or don't want to skate. He also saw them as a draw for parties and private events. The cars run on rechargeable batteries and take two kinds of wheels, so they can drive on ice in winter and on concrete the rest of the year.
The numbers explain the bet. The purchase price was about twice what the rink earned all winter. Rourke estimated the cars alone could bring in $225,000 over a full year of use, which is more than three times the rink's first-season revenue. Half the cost came from the city's restricted tourism budget. Ward 9 Councilman Vincent Gebhart told the Beacon it was a fitting way "to try to goose the revenue and give this skating rink every opportunity to stand on its own feet."
Roller skating went in on similar terms. On April 6 the council awarded Legacy Hospitality & Entertainment Group LLC a roller skate rental contract running April 13 to Oct. 31, 2026. The city receives 12% of rental revenue, or 72 cents on each $6 rental. Based on the bid package's 140-person capacity and one session a day, the Beacon put the city's potential share at about $100 a day. Rourke's plan for summer and the shoulder months was bumper cars early in the day and roller skating in the evening. He also mentioned pop-up events and said "some sort of fall festival would be nice."
Six Months on Concrete
By summer, the plaza was running full event days. WPRI's July roundup listed both bumper cars and roller skating as regular offerings. The calendar after the ice melted looked like this:
- June 19: A School's Out event with bumper cars and roller skating.
- July 10: The Warwick Summer Celebration, with food and sweet trucks, more than 20 marketplace vendors, a bounce house, a DJ, bumper cars and a Warwick Police touch-a-truck.
- July 25: Roller skating with local police officers.
- Sept. 19: Warwick's first annual Apple Fest, with live music, vendors, kids' activities, food trucks, bumper cars and roller skating. Rourke's spring hope for "some sort of fall festival" was on the calendar within about five months.
- Oct. 3 and Oct. 17: A build-a-scarecrow event sponsored by Child, Inc., then a truck-or-treat with food trucks, games and prizes.
- Oct. 23: City Hall Plaza Movies, with food trucks, trick-or-treating at vendor booths, kids' activities and bumper car rides.
Over the summer, Warwick Post listed 10-minute bumper car rides at $12 for adults and $10 for kids 12 and under. Legacy's roller skating contract ended Oct. 31. With it ends the concrete season that let the plaza run year-round.
What the Second Winter Looks Like So Far
As of Oct. 28, Greenwood Credit Union, the plaza's naming sponsor, said it expected the 2026 skating season to start "sometime in November." No firm opening date had been set. The plaza's ice skating page has the framework for the season:
| Item | Listed rate or detail |
|---|---|
| Skating days | Wednesday through Sunday |
| Session length | 1.5-hour blocks, times "posted soon" |
| General admission, ages 13+ | $8 |
| Discounted admission | $5 for ages 6 to 12, seniors 62+, military, veterans and students with valid ID |
| Ages 5 and under | Free |
| Ice skate rental | $10 |
| Skate aids | Free |
| Card payments | 3% fee |
| Groups of 12 or more | $2 off admission |
| Season passes | Details "coming soon" |
Each admission and rental covers a single session. The page doesn't have a publication date, so check it again once session times go up. Sandy Lane Sports is handling skate rentals again this year under its two-year contract with the city. Rourke has said the city can look at bringing rentals in-house after the 2026-2027 season.
That makes this winter the second and final season under the current rental arrangement. It's also the first time the plaza has gone into ice season with the bumper cars already in its inventory. The plaza hasn't yet said whether the cars will run on the ice this winter or how sessions would be divided. When the schedule is posted, look for that detail on cityhall-plaza.com.
Making It an Apponaug Afternoon
The rink is in the center of the village. Visit Warwick describes Apponaug as downtown Warwick, home to City Hall and laid out around Post Road, Greenwich Avenue and Centerville Road.
Down Post Road, the Warwick Center for the Arts Annual Winter Market opens Saturday, Nov. 28, on Small Business Saturday weekend. It runs Wednesday through Saturday, noon to 5 p.m., through Dec. 19. The second-floor gallery at 3259 Post Road becomes a shop selling work by Rhode Island artists and makers: ceramics, jewelry, knitwear, ornaments, prints, turned wood, glass and metalwork, plus a "curiosities" corner. It's free to browse. Parking is behind the building at 3273 Post Road, and an elevator lift serves the gallery. The Wednesday through Saturday market schedule fits inside the rink's Wednesday through Sunday skating week, so most market days are also skating days.
The arts center lists Saturday, Dec. 5, the day of the Apponaug Winter Stroll, as the market's busiest day of the season. For comparison, the Central Rhode Island Chamber listed last year's festival on Dec. 6, 2025, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. It had a 10 a.m. parade with Santa and Mrs. Claus, food trucks, a marketplace and skating on what was then a brand-new rink. The 2026 program hasn't been published yet. Last winter, the rink's public opening was the centerpiece of that day. This year the rink should already be running, if it opens in November as expected.
For a stop after skating, Apponaug Brewing Company has beer, food and a patio. Apponaug Village Creamery, which opened in the historic village in April 2025, is there for anyone who still wants ice cream after an hour on the ice.
Steven Miller Group follows changes like City Hall Plaza's year-round calendar because they shape what daily life in a Warwick village looks like. If you're wondering how a walkable downtown anchor like Apponaug's affects what your home is worth, we'll put together a value estimate based on what's happening near your street. Request Your Home Value.
