FEATURE: The holiday spirit was alive at the latest First Stride skate

First Stride Family Skates at the MB Community Ice Arena have turned into a tradition for Chicago area families.
"We did about three or four in the summer, but we wanted to do a holiday edition during the season," said Blackhawks Fan Development Assistant Samantha Ratty during the Dec. 22 event. "On the first day of winter break, we Invited families back to the rink for skating, hot chocolate, to see Santa and get Blackhawks giveaways."

The festive affair attracted dozens of families to the ice and the accompanying fun activities also included face-painting for the kids.
By all accounts, the holiday special was a resounding success.
"My daughter (Cielo) is a fifth-grader at Alcott College Prep and she got signed up for the First Stride family program," said Vicky Camarena. "And we love it. We are like three blocks away (from the MB Ice Arena). So we are really excited to be part of this. I really want to get her in (skating) classes because I think it is a nice skill to have.
"It's an opportunity that I never had growing up. So this is something that she gets to have and experience. I never got to experience this as a child, growing up on the West Side. So it's exciting to have this here."

Camarena even invited one of her neighbors - Kelly Means - to the Dec. 22 First Stride Family Holiday Skate event.
"I have two kids here, Sarah (11) and Isaiah (12)," Means said. "Vicky invited us to come out and be a part of it and have fun with the family and friends. I think it is a great opportunity because my children have skated before but we travel quite a distance. This facility is very close to my home. It took me like five minutes to get here. I think it is a great opportunity to have something like this in the community and expose our children to ice skating. Because a lot of our children are not exposed to ice skating."
Ratty explained how interested families can get involved in the First Stride Family Skate program.

"When students participate in First Stride, their parent can sign up for the email list," Ratty said. "Parents receive information about free programming that we offer to the students and their families. All program participants are entered into our First Stride data base and from that point on they can come back to any public skates and their whole family can skate for free. It really gives the family an opportunity to have a fun day at the rink and experience what their kids learned during the program."
With Christmas music resonating over the MB Ice Arena speaker system, families skating merrily on the ice and children smiling from ear to ear, the Blackhawks organization declared the outing a success.
"The holiday spirit is alive and well at MB Ice Arena," Ratty said.