Thorpe Park has a big pond, a sliding hill, a warming house you can rent for parties, and an ice rink at 3725 Hamilton Avenue. It also sits a long way from the city's Public Works building. Deephaven's own staff memo calls that distance a challenge Public Works faces every year, because it makes the Thorpe rink hard to maintain outside normal staffing hours.
Across town, Village Hall Park had the opposite winter. A new rink opened there last season, and a group of resident volunteers cleared it on evenings and weekends. City staff called the result the best rink conditions ever experienced at that park. This fall, the city is asking whether Thorpe Park can borrow that setup. The answer depends less on equipment than on who lives near Hamilton Avenue and is willing to pick up a power broom.
What Village Hall Park had going for it last winter
Start with the infrastructure, because it's the part most people noticed. In 2025 the City Council set a goal of upgrading the hockey rink at Village Hall Park, 20225 Cottagewood Road. The plan was an NHL-size rink, 200 by 85 feet, on a reinforced concrete slab. Soil borings showed the ground needed correction before the slab could go in.
The boards were used NHL boards from Arena Warehouse, refitted with white fiberglass facing and chain-link fencing on the curves and ends. That piece was quoted at $128,712 with shipping and installation. According to the city's Fall 2025 newsletter, the boards came from the former Atlanta Thrashers. A new LED lighting system on steel poles was estimated at $67,000 to $77,000.
The June 16, 2025 council packet estimated the whole project at $505,712 to $572,712. A $300,000 Hennepin County grant, which had to be spent by December 31, 2026, brought the city's share down to between $205,712 and $272,712, paid from the Capital Improvement Fund. The city held a ribbon cutting for the new rink in early 2026.
The second ingredient cost far less and gets far less attention. Last winter, city staff member Derek Etreum started the Deephaven Ice Patrol, a group of resident volunteers responsible for evening and weekend upkeep of the Village Hall hockey rink and its public skating areas. Volunteers were trained on a snowblower and a power broom, signed waivers confirming their volunteer status, and went out when the snow came. In its October 19, 2026 council memo, the city says those efforts "resulted in the best rink conditions ever experienced at Village Hall Park."
A concrete slab gives you a flat surface to flood. Keeping it skateable after a Saturday snowfall takes someone with a broom.
The two rinks, side by side
| Village Hall Park | Thorpe Park | |
|---|---|---|
| Address | 20225 Cottagewood Road | 3725 Hamilton Avenue |
| Last winter's surface | New NHL-size slab rink with fiberglass-faced boards and LED lights | Existing rink beside the warming house |
| After-hours upkeep last winter | Ice Patrol volunteers, evenings and weekends | Hard to staff outside normal hours, given the distance from Public Works |
| Change proposed for 2026–27 | Ice Patrol continues | Ice Patrol expansion, an on-site equipment shed, and on-demand hot water in the shelter |
Bringing the crew to Hamilton Avenue
Deephaven's Park Board took up the Thorpe question at its September and October meetings. Board members volunteered to serve on a Thorpe crew themselves. On October 6, 2026, the board voted unanimously to recommend two things to the council: extending the Ice Patrol to Thorpe Park, and buying a shed that can stay at the park to hold a snowblower and power broom. Minnetonka Youth Sports could use the same shed to store equipment in spring and summer.
Public Works Supervisor Jeff Kask recommended a 10-by-12-foot shed at roughly $5,590, which could be installed this fall. Staff can buy the broom and snowblower under their own purchasing authority. The memo proposes paying for all of it from the 2026 budget's contingency line, which had $162,908.04 available at the time. The item went to the council on October 19 as a recommended motion. For the vote itself, check the city's agendas and minutes page.
Thorpe already has one piece in place. Staff had already approved an on-demand hot water system for the Thorpe Park shelter, to support flooding the rink in winter and to allow better cleaning and other uses of the shelter year-round.
If the program goes ahead, the memo lays out the order of events:
- Staff meet with residents in the Thorpe Park neighborhood to explain the Ice Patrol.
- Staff go over what volunteers are expected to do.
- Volunteers are trained and certified on the equipment used to maintain the Thorpe hockey rink through the winter.
The shed and the broom only help if neighbors near Hamilton Avenue turn out to use them. The city's general volunteer process is to call City Hall at 952-474-4755 and ask for a Volunteer Application Form, or fill one out in person.
The lights follow the same pattern
Deephaven runs its holiday lighting the same way it now hopes to run its rinks. Neighborhood groups do the work, and the city chips in. Historically, the Cottagewood Store and Thorpe Park Events, the nonprofit behind the lights at Thorpe Park, have each organized and contracted for lighting at their own spots. For the past couple of years, the city gave each group between $1,500 and $2,000.
This year that amount goes up. On October 5, the council voted 5–0 to approve the Winter Seasonal Lighting Plan as part of its consent agenda. The staff recommendation behind the plan gives $2,500 each to the Cottagewood Store and Thorpe Park Events, and puts the remaining $7,000 toward lighting City Hall and Village Hall Park again. On the Cottagewood side, the store's membership page describes it as a 501(c)(3) and asks for "Season of Lights" donations to decorate the store and Children's Park.
That means Thorpe Park could start this winter with a bigger lighting contribution, hot water in the shelter, and possibly its own volunteer rink crew.
Planning the first skate
Deephaven doesn't publish warming house opening dates until the weather cooperates. The city's parks page says dates will be posted as the season approaches. Past seasons give a rough idea. The Fall 2024 newsletter targeted Friday, December 13, 2024, and the Fall 2025 newsletter targeted Friday, December 5, 2025. Both said the date depended on the ice. At the October 19 meeting, the fall newsletter was reported to be at the printer.
Here are last season's hours for both warming houses. Treat them as a starting point until the city posts the new schedule:
- Weekdays: 1 p.m. to 9 p.m.
- Saturdays: 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. in the Fall 2025 newsletter, but 1 p.m. to 9 p.m. in the Winter 2026 issue. Call City Hall before a Saturday morning skate.
- Sundays: Noon to 9 p.m.
- Rink closure: The city's park rules close skating rinks from 9 p.m. to 8 a.m.
The Winter 2026 newsletter also warned that a warm spell can damage the ice and force a short closure for repairs. It noted that building and maintaining a skateable rink takes several days. That lead time is why a crew working nights and weekends can make a difference at either park.
The same newsletter asked residents to move vehicles off streets and out of city parking lots during snowfalls, especially storms over two inches, until plows have cleared them. That includes the big Village Hall Park lot many people use to reach the trail. If you walk or ski to the rinks, Three Rivers Park District says the Lake Minnetonka Regional Trail is plowed through Deephaven, generally from mid-November through March, in partnership with the cities along it. The trail crosses Village Hall Park.
Before the warming houses open, the season's first big Cottagewood gathering is on the calendar. The Cottagewood General Store's season ends with a Halloween closing day on Saturday, October 31. The store is back for Christmas in Cottagewood on Friday, December 4, from 4:30 to 7:15 p.m. at 20280 Cottagewood Avenue. Tickets are $65 per family and include pictures with Santa, a sleigh ride, and hot chocolate. In a typical year, that's right around when the city has aimed to open its warming houses.
At the Weinstock Group, we watch which corners of Lake Minnetonka keep their parks in shape through the winter, and Deephaven's rink plans say a lot about how its neighborhoods run. If you're thinking about the area around Thorpe Park or Village Hall Park and want to know what everyday life is like there in January, schedule a complimentary consultation.
