Jane Ward walked through the doors of the Ribbon expecting to celebrate her 29th birthday, but ended up at the center of another celebration — the ice trail’s 100,000th skater.
Celebrating her birthday at the Ribbon has become somewhat of a tradition. Last year she went to a night skating event to celebrate, and this year she decided to go during the day for the 100,000th skater party. “It is my birthday, but I was not expecting it to be this big,” Mrs. Ward said.
The Ribbon at the Glass City Metropark combines a 1,000-foot long winding ice trail, with a traditional ice skating rink for a total of 3,000 square feet of ice. In the summer, the trail is converted to be used for roller skating. Mike Keedy, director of enterprise development for Metroparks Toledo, said only a few hundred visitors were expected at the Ribbon’s two-week preview in February, 2023, but 12,000 skaters turned up to try the ice trail out…