Iceland skating rink nears rebuild 15 years after devastating North Sacramento fire
Rob Kerth didn’t know how he was feeling about the impending reconstruction of his family’s longtime business, Iceland Ice Skating Rink.
The rink at 1430 Del Paso Blvd., which Kerth’s grandfather Bill Kerth Sr. opened in 1940, was gutted by fire in March 2010 in a suspected arson that has never been solved. Although the rink reopened for outdoor skating in 2011 and operated in that capacity until being shuttered by the pandemic in 2020, it’s never been rebuilt.
That could be changing, with the city’s permitting system showing the project recently cleared an initial planning review. More detailed feedback from the city could come by Dec. 15. Kerth said he hoped construction for the $2 million rink would begin as soon as February and that it could potentially open in June.
But he wasn’t getting ahead of himself — given all the work still needed to reopen the rink.
“I won’t really believe it till I’m freezing ice,” he said.
‘A place for the entire family to go’
At Lil Joe’s diner Tuesday morning, Kerth delved into his project and the history of his family’s business.
Kerth, 66, who is a member of the Sacramento Municipal Utility District’s board of directors and served on Sacramento City Council from 1992 until 2000, has lived much of his life in the nearby Woodlake neighborhood.
Outside the diner were reminders of the past. He noted that he had his first date across the street at the long-defunct Cardinal Lanes.
Sitting on the Lil Joe’s patio was Bill FitzGerald, who was having breakfast with his wife and granddaughter. FitzGerald had long ago skated at Iceland. He’d mourned the rink’s fiery destruction.
“I was just totally bummed out,” FitzGerald said. “Anything that goes bad on the boulevard generally just turns into a vacant lot.”
Iceland hasn’t been the Kerth family’s only tie to the boulevard. As a teenager, FitzGerald, who is now 70, worked for American Ice Co., which Bill Kerth Sr. opened in 1923 and which still operates. The ice rink opened next door to American Ice in November 1940.
Rob Kerth said his grandfather loved building things. The elder Kerth also had some foresight. When he died of cancer in 1949, the North Sacramento Journal wrote that he’d seen the ice delivery industry declining and pivoted to opening a rink as “a place for the entire family to go.”
Rob Kerth’s father, Bill Kerth Jr., took over Iceland in 1947. He ran the business for decades and made a name for himself in ice skating-related work until dying in a car crash at age 71.
Among Bill Kerth Jr.’s accomplishments: consulting on several Winter Olympics and coordinating ice skating for the 1960 games at what is now called Olympic Valley; designing the ice rink at Arco Arena; and, in the late 1940s, inventing an ice clearing machine that briefly led a more well-known inventor in this area, Frank Zamboni, to threaten a lawsuit before the two became friends.
Rob Kerth, one of six children, worked for Iceland from a young age, with his dad having him drive the ice resurfacer, which the family called Snooky.
“As soon as I could reach the pedals I was driving,” he said.
The rink became an institution, attracting Olympic athletes who trained there, according to archival news coverage. A 2011 KVIE documentary about the rink noted that Ronald Reagan and boxer Max Baer skated there.
Kerth noted that he had a list of 400 couples who’d either gone on their first date or met at Iceland.
The rebuilt ice rink will operate as a nonprofit, Sacramento Iceland, with Kerth’s older sister Terrie Kerth serving as its executive director. Rob Kerth is the agent for a company, American Iceland LLC, which owns the land that the rink sits on.
Reopening the rink
Over the past 15 years, there’s been news coverage at times suggesting the rink could soon reopen. Terrie Kerth insisted that this time is different.
“For the last couple of years, I’ve not been saying if, I’ve been saying when it happens,” she said. “And it always takes longer than you think it’s going to, but we finally have a plan, the application for the building permit, and a real plan including drawings.”
Andy Hernandez, a Woodlake resident who serves as board president for the nonprofit, acknowledged that the project had previously had many starts and stops.
“It’s been sort of a long road, but I think we’re finally there,” he said.
Part of what’s changed is that financing for the project has come together. Rob Kerth said $1.3 million of the budget is coming from a 30-year loan from the city that can be forgiven if the nonprofit meets youth education-related requirements. He said that 60% of the children the rink serves come from ZIP codes in South Natomas, Robla or Del Paso Heights.
“It’s based on how many lessons we give, how many kids come through the door,” said Kerth, who predicted that the rink would annually bring 100,000 people to the boulevard, based on past attendance.
There’s also been progress with design for the rink, which will be rebuilt as a metal building with some walls from the original rink preserved. Craig Hausman, whose firm Hausman Architecture is designing the project, showed The Sacramento Bee detailed drawings for the project.
“From the outside, you’re gonna see mainly the original structure,” Hausman said. “Then there’s a secondary structure that’s going to kind of span over the building to enclose it.”
Even now, there’s hope among some city officials for what could come with Iceland’s construction.
“Seeing the Iceland Skating Rink come back to life would be amazing for the activation and economic development of Del Paso Boulevard,” Stacia Cosgrove, a planner for the city, wrote in an email. “Historic landmarks like Iceland hold a special place in our communities and to see investment in its future would be very exciting.”
In the aftermath of the fire, hundreds of people volunteered to do work like clearing debris to help the rink recover. Kerth said that more volunteers will be needed to get the rink ready for construction.
Terrie Kerth began skating on her second birthday. She’s now 76 and still gives skating lessons.
“The rink burned down in March of 2010 and since then, I’ve been trying to get it back,” she said. “Iceland is a very special place. It’s a place where people go to have fun and learn to skate.”
This story was originally published November 15, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
