BALTIMORE — The Mimi DiPietro Skating Center in Patterson Park is slated to close permanently due to structural concerns with the "wall that houses the rink's ammonia refrigeration system," the Baltimore City Mayor's Office and Dept. of Recreation and Parks said in a recently-circulated document.
The skating center is closed right now. Rec and Parks said if repairs, taking place right now, succeed, the facility could remain open just for this season, adding the earliest possible reopening would be late December or early January. It would be the final season for an ice rink that has served Patterson Park for 39 years.
An ice rink in Patterson Park is shuttering after 39 years of serving the community
The document estimates a new, structurally-sound rink would cost between $5 million and $10 million. Given the city's wider infrastructure demands, Recreation and Parks said it "has reached the limits of what maintenance can safely support," and suggested private funding, which helped fund the center's original construction, may be a consideration.
Problems with the skating center, the document said, were highlighted almost 30 years ago in the 1998 Patterson Park Master Plan, citing foundation concerns, dome integrity and soil movement.
The closure affects several hockey programs, including the Baltimore Banners, Patterson Park Stars, Broom Ball and Boys Latin School, the document added.
The facility, affectionately called 'The Bubble,' has served as home ice for the Banners since 2003.
"The only barrier to come into hockey is that you open the door when the coach knocks on it," Matt Leone, coach and board chairman for the nonprofit which runs the Banners' programming, told WMAR-2 News.
For the Banners' young players, everything is taken care of at no cost; the trip to the rink, ice time, gear, food afterwards. Leone says being in Patterson Park works best for their impact.
"We very deliberately target the Ellwood Park, the McElderry Park neighborhoods of Baltimore City. Those are very high-violence neighborhoods of Baltimore City, highly-marginalized. But it's also high opportunity for our youth. It's also less than 1 mile away from Patterson Park," Leone said.
The Banners will relocate to Mount Pleasant Ice Arena, about a 25 minute drive away. Beyond the increased distance, Leone says the team faces reduced ice time for their season.
"We grow, we ask for 45 to start. We grow up to 60 to 70. We got 18 hours at Mount Pleasant, so at best, it's less than half, talking 40%," Leone told WMAR-2 News on Monday.
Despite the challenges, Leone maintains guarded optimism, but also urgency, to lobby local leaders for a new facility.
"Our hope is that we can treat it as this iteration of the bubble is done, it'll be torn down, you might miss a season or two, but it's for the greater good of a long-term construction of a new rink, ideally a year-round rink," Leone said.
Mimi DiPietro Skating Center Status November 2025 by Dominick Philippe-Auguste
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