Oakton Sports Complex is a virtually brand new facility after a 17 month $33 million rebuild project was recently completed in Aug 2025. Yippee for Park Ridge residents! The wife and I dropped in for the first time to check the place out and to get in our fitness steps. It was very nice to use the free, uncrowded, and comfortable walking track in the Athletic Field space. The weekday walking hours are 6am-4pm, except Wednesday when it is 8am-4pm. The walking track encircles an indoor soccer field. There are also free lockers for the storage of your personal items. At the risk of ruining things with this review lol, this place is a hidden gem for us! As I was looking around at the historical info ads about this long standing facility, I took a photo of the past Olympians from this ice center. A voice out of nowhere said "make sure to get a photo of the guy in red". The guy in red in the ad photo was David Santee, a two time (1976 and 1980) USA Olympian and sure enough the voice out of nowhere belonged to none other than David Santee himself lol! You can check the photo - he's not a fake and he is a retired director of this facility and also currently a skating coach here. Pretty cool coincidental run-in and David is a very loyal Park Ridge native, hooray! Besides the Athletic Field, there is the Ice Arena which houses a brand new studio rink for their figure skating and hockey programs. Big thumbs up for this new community asset and congratulations to the Park Ridge Park District on the completion of their very successful rebuild project. read more

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Wow, I see that the most recent review is almost three years old now--definitely time for a new one! As I write this review for what's currently listed on Yelp as Oakton Ice Arena (until the updates I submitted are approved, anyway), it's actually a completely new facility. That's not hyperbole--the place was rebuilt from the ground up. I never visited the old arena, but have been to the new one several times since I live nearby and we also attended the grand opening of the new facility (which opened in August 2025). In addition to the main ice rink, they have a studio rink which is a fraction of the size, as well as an indoor athletic field. There's an indoor walking track that forms the perimeter of the athletic field, and though they open at 9 a.m., the walking track opens at 6 and is free of charge to use. They have a nice concessions area, which includes an outdoor patio in the warm weather months. As a park district facility, they have a variety of events and classes and you can also rent space in the building for your own events. There's classes for all ages; I signed my daughter up for baseball (the only girl!) and we'll try soccer in a few weeks. I'm also curious about the adult ice skating classes, and I'll definitely be looking into the children's ice skating when she's old enough to enroll. They have adult leagues for broom ball, volleyball, ice bocce, basketball.... The instructors are top-notch as well. I believe the facility has a golf range that will be opening in spring or summer 2026. There's a lot of parking here. I haven't ever seen it near full. They have quite a few electronic vehicle spots with chargers; possibly too many tbh but I'm probably misremembering how many there are. It's also just a couple blocks from the Dee Road Metra station, so it's easily accessible by public transportation as well. 2026 - Review #1 read more

This facility is showing its age. The ice arena itself is fine and kept up, however, the bathrooms are terrible. When the home team scores a train whistle blasts very loudly so heads up for that. There is plenty of seating and free parking. read more

My 5 year old son wanted to learn ice skating, so we signed him up for classes offered by the park district. I live maybe half a mile from this place, but had never really gotten to see it inside till he enrolled. The building is set back about half a block from Oakton on the north side of the street. The entrance is a very wide automatic sliding door, which is good if you're bringing in a ton of hockey equipment. Once inside, it has this small-business, friendly feel like a mom & pop bowling alley or something. There's a ticket window where we pay $2 for a skate rental. Across from the tickets, there's a little shop that sells skates and other equipment. The skate rental is in the rink area, and the friendly staff are all around. They know most of the kids who come here regularly, so it's not unusual to see the workers come out to talk to some of the older kids. The building holds many trophies for the local neighborhood Express hockey team, which trains here and apparently has some affiliation or support from the Chicago Wolves franchise, whose wolf logo is abundantly visible throughout the place too. Besides hockey, the programs offered here include speed skating and figure skating. The rink is huge. It can have up to 4 separate skating classes happening at once in different parts of the rink. And while the ice area is cold, the surrounding area outside the ice is not as chilly as Franklin Park Ice Arena. The instructional staff is nice too. They are mostly high school girls from Maine East and Maine South. My son is in a beginner's class with 6 other kids and there are usually 2 or even 3 instructors helping out. They treat the kids very nicely and make sure they are safe on the ice and that their skates are on correctly. Going here for skating with my older son is our little secret, at least for now. We can't tell his younger brother, the crazy Stunt Boy. He would be heartbroken to hear that you need to be at least 3 before you can go on the ice. I know he couldn't bear to watch without wanting to put on skates and give it a try too. Just wait till next year, he will be bouncing off the sidewalls around the rink... read more

Oakton Sports Complex - Ice rink - Skating Rinks Near Me - Park Ridge, Illinois

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A very nice rink. Love the skylights and the wood roof. Public skate is a good deal at $6 a person, much better value than many other rinks in the area. Very safe, had skate guards on duty who were not on their phone the whole time and managed ice well. Good seating for putting on and taking off skates. Wish it was half an hour longer. read more

built in 1969, looks and smells like it. oddly the okder rinks are usually the colder rinks... this one is an exception. concession area has the prerequisite fried dough aroma. Its clean in the same way a frat house is. Another rink that favors loud obnoxious music for breaks in the game. like loud, ac/dc and all the best butt rock from the 80s/90s. If we never played a game here again that woukd be ok w me. update... the youth hockey locker room we are in is UPstairs. thats right, the team actually has to walk down a flight of stairs to get to rhe ice. Keep it safe Park Ridge. and loud. it is so loud right now. read more

If you're looking for a fun winter indoor activity with friends or for a date this place is a must! This ice area is very nice and on most weekends they have themes and a small raffle. On the night I went with friends it was "80's Night" I love the 80's so my friends thought this would be a fun activity to do and it was! The skates are in good condition make sure to bring extra socks for padding on the inside. One of the skates was rubbing against my ankle and I wish I had brought extra socks or those gels pads. Also, girls it might be cute to bring some leg warmers to cover the high top brown/tan/camel colored ice skates. :) I'll be prepared for next time! read more

A nice facility. All the staff that I interacted with were nice, friendly and helpful. The music selection for their open skate appeared to mainly pay tribute to the 70's and 80's with a bit of the 50's and 60's thrown in for what I would assume to be good measure. Overall, a great experience. I would definitely go back again. read more

This is a good ice arena for free skate. There are better arenas in the area, such as the one in Niles, but it's good enough for my standards. Nice staff, good skates available for rent and huge spectator area for resting. The only issue I had I began to notice when I stepped out onto the rink. I started skating, and suddenly my feet go astray in every direction. I look down on the ground, and what the hell? There's holes in the rink! It looks like a crazed chimp came in and started tossing around a brick! They don't bother to smooth out the ice before free skate, which I thought was a given for running an ice rink. Also notable, the music is not blasting at max volume, which is a good thing when trying to maneuver on a sheet of ice with blades strapped to your feet. Totally deserves five stars if it weren't for the rough ice. read more

Beautiful rink. Just wish they would put some updates to locker rooms and entry way. I heard there is a major update on the way. Very qualified skating instructors on sight. read more

Really awesome arena all around! My son is in pre-hockey through the Park District and I couldn't ask for better instructors for him. They're all so happy to be on the ice teaching these children, they don't look miserable and you can tell they actually want to be there! They take time with them, talk to them, and move with them. The gentlemen have great experience with the ice and their skates (not saying the ladies don't) but you get the idea. My son laughs with them and is so excited to go every weekend! The rink is REALLY clean for the most part, there is always someone cleaning when we're there. Friendly and attentive staff, always saying hello to parents... Plenty of seating and space to help your child get his/her skates on (unless the figure skaters are just coming off of the ice, but that's expected) then it gets a bit crowded but that's just because sometimes we're a bit early. I'm able to drink my coffee in there too while I watch him, which is nice! Snacks and drinks are available, there's also a nice gift shop. All around proud to say my son attends these classes here! I wouldn't recommend another place to another parent. Keep it up Oakton! :) read more

This is a beautiful ice rink. I hadn't expected much but was pleasantly surprised. My daughter loves it here.

Great arena! Friendly stuff! Hi-Quality ICE ....

Although this rink is nice, don't bother renting skates. They are so dull and I was literally told they don't sharpen the skates so that the can preserve the blade. Well, just try skating on a blunt blade...... read more

it's a great ice rink!1 i love there Friday night late night skate!