Outside Johnston City Hall there is a 57-by-166-foot rectangle that does two jobs. From summer through early fall it is the splash pad, and kids run through it in swimsuits. Once the weather turns, crews lay synthetic ice panels across the same footprint, and it becomes a skating rink. WHO 13 reported on the setup when the rink opened in 2021. The rink is built from panels, so it needs no chiller and no ice resurfacer, and it "will be converted to a splash pad during the summer months."
This year the changeover has a date on the calendar. Holidays at the Town Center is Saturday, December 5, from 4 to 6 p.m. at Johnston City Hall, 6221 Merle Hay Road. The City of Johnston's event listing promises free ice skating, visits with Santa, hot cocoa, crafts for kids, local business highlights, local food and craft vendors, and a community tree lighting.
A Downtown Built to Change With the Seasons
The rink makes more sense once you remember how new the Town Center is. Johnston broke ground on the project in 2019, and the city officially opened it on a Saturday in late August 2021. WHO 13 covered that opening, and Paula Dierenfeld, then the mayor, explained the idea behind it:
"We've never had a downtown. We've had crossroads in our community, but never a central city in our community."
She told the station the city had been planning it "for about 15 years." The first phase included a new City Hall, the splash pad, two sculptures, and a festival green called "The Yard" with a stage for concerts. On its project page for Johnston City Hall, OPN Architects lists the site's features as a splash pad, a skating rink, a bicycle pump track and open green space. It describes the uses as a forum, plaza, amphitheater, market and events space.
That list explains how the place works. A downtown that started from scratch on Merle Hay Road had no old storefront blocks to fill the winter months. So the city designed one piece of ground to serve two seasons, and the switch between them arrives with a party.
The Rink Opened at the First Holiday Event
The timing has been part of the plan from the start. In November 2021, three months after the Town Center opened, the city scheduled a 1 p.m. ribbon cutting for the new synthetic rink on Saturday, November 27. WHO 13 reported that the ribbon cutting was "part of the Holidays at the Town Center event," which ran from 1 to 5 p.m. that day with a visit from Santa Claus and a grand tree lighting. The rink and the holiday event started on the same day.
The event has kept its Saturday spot and moved later in the day. In 2025 the city listed Holidays at the Town Center for Saturday, December 6, from 4 to 6 p.m., free to attend. The 2026 edition runs on the same schedule, one weekend into December, and ends with the tree lighting.
Johnston has a second holiday kickoff with its own history. The Johnston Development Corporation's tree lighting page says its Christmas Celebration is held "the Monday after Thanksgiving each year." In 2025 that was Monday, December 1, from 5:30 to 7 p.m. at the Municipal Parking Lot in downtown Johnston. The program had the Johnston Elementary School Chorus and the Johnston-Edgefield-Trenton Middle School Chorus, a visit from Santa, a reading of The Christmas Story, and the mayor lighting the Town Christmas Tree at 6 p.m. Check the corporation's page for this year's details.
Why Panels Instead of Real Ice
The synthetic surface is what lets the splash pad turn into a rink. A refrigerated rink needs chiller equipment under the surface and a resurfacing machine to keep the ice smooth. Johnston's rink needs neither because it is assembled from panels. That is how the same slab can hold spray features in July and skaters in December.
The city is clear that the surface skates a little differently. A December 2025 city news post described the rink as "made of synthetic material, allowing for a gliding experience similar to real ice, although it may feel slightly different." Panels also mean the rink does not depend on a cold snap the way a natural outdoor rink does. The Town Center has a winter gathering spot in a metro where December weather can swing from week to week.
December 5, Morning to Tree Lighting
The city's calendar gives the Town Center area a full Saturday on December 5:
- 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.: Arts & Crafts at Station 39. The city lists this community event at 6373 Merle Hay Road.
- 4 to 6 p.m.: Holidays at the Town Center. The event is at Johnston City Hall, 6221 Merle Hay Road, with free ice skating, visits with Santa, hot cocoa, crafts for kids, local business highlights, and local food and craft vendors.
- Evening: the community tree lighting. It closes out the city's listed program.
Station 39 and City Hall are both on the same stretch of Merle Hay Road, so the craft morning and the skating afternoon fit easily into one day. If you own skates, bring them. Skating is free at the event, and when the rink opened in 2021, people who brought their own skates could always skate for free.
After the Switch: How the Rink Ran Last Season
Last season's setup shows what the weeks after the opening can look like. In its December 17, 2025 post, the city said skate rentals cost $5 and were non-refundable, and that concessions were sold at the same stand where you rent skates.
The Town Center also added hours over the school holiday break. These were the 2025 extended hours:
- Monday, Dec. 22 and Tuesday, Dec. 23: 4 to 8 p.m.
- Friday, Dec. 26: 4 to 8 p.m.
- Saturday, Dec. 27: noon to 8 p.m.
- Sunday, Dec. 28: noon to 5 p.m.
- Monday, Dec. 29 and Tuesday, Dec. 30: noon to 8 p.m.
- Friday, Jan. 2: noon to 8 p.m.
The longest days fell during the gap between Christmas and New Year's. The city's December 2025 post sent skaters to the Johnston Town Center Skating Rink page on the city website for more about the rink.
The Rest of December on Merle Hay Road
The rink is the main winter draw at the Town Center, and the rest of the city's December calendar is close by on Merle Hay Road. The Johnston Public Library at 6700 Merle Hay Road has scheduled its biggest holiday program the weekend after the tree lighting.
| Date | Event | Where | Details |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sat., Dec. 12, 8 to 10 a.m. | Coffee with a Cop & Santa | Listed on the city calendar | A morning visit with Santa a week after the tree lighting |
| Sat., Dec. 12, 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. | DesMoiNTRAK Model Train Exhibit | Johnston Public Library, Large Meeting Room | A modular train layout, with club members on hand |
| Sun., Dec. 13, 1 to 3:30 p.m. | DesMoiNTRAK Model Train Exhibit | Johnston Public Library | Second and final day of the exhibit |
| Sun., Dec. 20, 2 to 3 p.m. | DIY Wrapping Paper Party | Johnston Public Library | Drop-in, registration appreciated |
December 12 can fill a whole day. Coffee with Santa runs in the early morning, and the train layout opens at 9:30 and stays up until 5 p.m. The Sunday hours are shorter. The wrapping paper party lands on the last weekend before Christmas.
The library's November calendar comes first, and its Thanksgiving hours matter for planning. On the library calendar, Women and Money runs Thursday, November 12, from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m., with registration appreciated but not required. Awkward (or Otherwise) Picture Day is Saturday, November 14, with half-hour family photo slots starting at 10 a.m. and registration required. The Ultimate Reading Challenge Meet-Up: Book Edge Painting is Wednesday, November 18, from 6 to 8 p.m., for ages 18 and up, with registration required.
Over Thanksgiving, the library closes at 5 p.m. on Wednesday, November 25. It is closed November 26 and 27 and reopens Saturday, November 28.
Once the holiday weekend ends, the next date on the Town Center calendar is December 5, when the splash pad becomes a rink again and the tree lights up beside City Hall.
At Megan Mitchum + CO, we keep an eye on the Town Center calendar the same way our Johnston neighbors do, from the summer splash pad to the first winter skate. If you have questions about life around Merle Hay Road, or want to know how close a street is to the rink and The Yard, we're happy to talk it through. Contact us anytime.
