The new ice at Danville’s David S. Palmer Arena is now set to be made beginning next Friday, with the ice surface ready for hockey sometime in January.
Arena Manager Joe Dunagan says the company in charge of the ice-making process, Total Mechanical, has been hit hard by COVID-19 cases, and that has caused the delay in the project. The arena’s old floor was removed and re-poured over the summer with an improved cooling process, and new boards and bleachers are expected as well. The project is being funded by a gift from the Julius Hegeler Foundation.
Dunagan told the arena’s events committee Wednesday night that he wants to eventually have a grand reopening of the arena, but he says it is difficult to schedule a date as events keep being delayed. He says the Danville Dashers currently have a January start date, but he says it isn’t certain if that will happen.
“I’m not even sure what dates of weekends we have available because the Dashers are having to re-do their schedule again,” he says. “I don’t know how long they’re going to go.”
Dunagan also says he is looking at concerts and other shows, but many of them aren’t planning to start touring until the second half of next year.
