6 Crazy Things We Would Do With Centennial Ice Arena in Billings
Centennial Ice Arena opened for the hockey season in 1982. It was the first indoor hockey rink in Billings and served its intended purpose for 44 years, acting as both a practice facility and a game space for youth games and the Billings Bulls.
Now, hockey action in Billings has moved to the brand-new, state-of-the-art Signal Peak Arena at Amend Park.
While the building is empty, its future is not entirely undecided.
My local hockey source said that the Centennial Ice Arena building is owned by Yellowstone Ice Foundation. This is the same group that just built the new facility. Reportedly, the plan is to keep fundraising and eventually renovate and reopen, adding a third sheet of ice in Billings.
The 3.65-acre property the building sits on is owned by Yellowstone County, which could certainly hamper any type of commercial, residential, or retail development at 427 Bench Blvd.
But just for fun, let's pretend the entire property becomes available. What would you like to see happen at the old Centennial Ice Arena? Here are some of my wacky thoughts.
1. Turn it into a giant, year-round Christmasville
People love Christmas. With Centennial's existing cooling system, you could have ice skating, piles of snow, igloos, and a North Pole, surrounded by vendors selling decorations, gifts, and holiday snacks.
2. Make an indoor go-kart track.
Gentlemen, start your engines. An indoor go-kart track would be a lot of fun in Billings.
3. A pickleball facility.
It appears that the plan to turn the old Costco building on King Avenue into pickleball courts has stalled. Centennial would probably work out great for such a facility.
4. Turn it into an indoor garage sale/flea market.
Junk is popular. You could probably fit 300 vendor spaces inside the building, and the huge parking lot would allow room for more spots outside when the weather is nice, along with food trucks.
5. A venue/general-purpose event space
Who misses seeing a great concert at the Shrine Auditorium? It probably wouldn't take much work to turn Centennial into an event space.
Use it for medium-sized concerts. Use it for MMA fights and boxing matches, raves, or even a haunted house in October. The possibilities are endless here.
6. Professional dodgeball.
Billings has had lackluster luck with our "pro" sports teams over the years. The RimRockers basketball team only played three seasons. The Outlaws football teams haven't fared much better. Perhaps we should give dogeball a whirl?
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