The Lane Events Center – ICE officially opened as Lane County Ice on December 22, 1989, after extensive community effort convinced the Lane County Commissioners and the Fair Board that an ice arena in the old horse arena at the fairgrounds could work. The grand opening skating exhibition featured Tanya Harding, at that time the top figure skating competitor from the Northwest. Our group lessons had waiting lists for classes and full rosters at every level, while public session skaters waited in line for a chance to skate. The initial coaching roster had a dozen or more coaches in order to meet the demand of group and private instruction skaters. While there may be fewer skaters today than in those early years, the skill level and performance experience has increased.

By 1995 the figure skating program included freestyle sessions for private coaching opportunities, and clinic ice for power and ice dancing practice. With the popularity of the annual holiday ice show productions and ISI team competitions, additional clinics were added for performance teams and synchronized skating. Our week-long Skate Camp was introduced in 1990 and Lane County Ice held its first annual ISI Love to Skate Competition in February 1992. Not long after that the new Eugene Figure Skating Club began to hold invitational USFSA competitions and the “skating bear” became a staple of the club’s fund raising efforts. In 1994 and again in 2000 the EFSC hosted the Pacific Coast Sectionals Synchronized Skating Competition. These tremendously successful events helped to put the club “on the map”.

There are some very special memories in our 16 year history, not the least of which are the skating extravaganzas held during the FAIR. In 1990 Richard Dwyer, Mr. Debonair, brought the first FAIR show for a six-day, two shows a day performance run. Even our Lane County Ice coaches, including Vance Kirklin and Cindy Jensen, skated in that first big production at the Ice Center. In the years that followed we enjoyed many wonderful FAIR shows featuring Scott Hamilton, Peter and Kitty Caruthers, Brian Orser, Elizabeth Manley and Paul Wylie. Local skaters have had great experiences producing the Country Coach Shows as well as our traditional holiday show, which benefits the United States Marine Corps Toys for Tots program.

The Ice Center has become a regional mecca for hockey with a strong Learn to Play program. The Lane Amateur Hockey Association has been a mainstay of the Ice Center from the beginning producing both a house league and a travel league. With the reemergence of an elite level Junior B team, hockey is proving to be both a recreational and competitive power at the Ice Center. It is great to see beginning hockey instruction coexisting with beginning figure skating classes in group lessons and our schedule allows for both groups to get the ice they need for their programs at all levels of performance and play.

Through the years the Ice Center has sustained a solid core program of group lessons and clinics, as well as maintain special traditions such as Love to Skate, Skate Camp and the Holiday Show. The Ice Center currently has four outstanding figure skating coaches all of whom at one time trained and competed for the EFSC. Our coaching staff, while much smaller than the original Lane County Ice staff, continues to provide a solid instructional program with a wide variety of skating opportunities.