A winter wonderland is coming to Richmond’s Nicholl Park either Dec. 20 or 21 — depending on the weather — after roughly 20 tons of ice is delivered via truck and churned into fake snowflakes.
This inaugural, one-day event will be free for residents and the city’s winter camp participants, complete with machine-generated snow and a ramp that children can slide down.
All Season’s Ice Company is planning to donate roughly $13,000 worth of the white stuff to the Community Services and Recreation Department for the event at the park, located on Macdonald Avenue about five blocks southeast of the Richmond Civic Center Plaza.
While generating snow won’t be a problem for the company, which delivers ice across the East Bay — to convenience stores, restaurants, bars, schools, churches and private homes — trying to keep that snow from melting too quickly may be a trickier wrinkle in Richmond’s chilly plan; according to data from The Weather Channel, temperatures during the third week of December in 2022 ranged from 34 to 57 degrees — well above freezing. One commercially available snow machine claims that their fake snowflakes evaporate after only 10-30 minutes.
This story will be updated as soon as more details about the planned day and time of the event are available.
Regardless of how long the wintery wonderland lasts, the Richmond City Council on Tuesday signed off on a contract for the supplies and volunteer stipends, including a roughly $2,000 fee waiver to use the city’s park space.