Williams Park Gets an Ice Rink This Winter, and Downtown Is Watching How You Use It

"This park has great bones. You don't need millions to recreate this park." Dan Biederman said that when he walked through Williams Park, according to Shaun Drinkard, CEO of the St. Petersburg Downtown Improvement District, as reported by the St. Pete Catalyst. Biederman is the public-space manager best known for reviving Bryant Park in New York, and Drinkard calls him his main guide for the park.

Winter Wonder opens on that block on November 20. It brings an open-air ice rink, a holiday market and a food and drink area to St. Petersburg's oldest park for six weeks. Drinkard told the Catalyst the event is "a live experiment." Planners will watch how people move through the 3.3 acres, and $800,000 in state-funded improvements start after the rink comes down. What works on the rink, in the market and on the plaza this winter will help decide where that money goes.

The rink goes where the buses used to idle

Williams Park opened in 1888 as City Park. It was named for John Constantine Williams, one of St. Petersburg's founders. Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan all gave speeches there, as WUSF recounted in August.

For most of the past few decades, the park's edges did more to define it than anything inside. PSTA used it as a bus transfer hub until 2016. The Catalyst described those idling buses as having "effectively walled off the public space." In the meantime, the city's attention went to its waterfront parks and the pier. "Williams Park was the first public space, with a grand purpose early on, but it became an afterthought," Drinkard told the outlet.

The park is also hard to miss. Using FDOT data, organizers estimate about 50,000 vehicles pass around the park every day. Winter Wonder is meant to give some of those drivers a reason to park the car and walk in.

What opens November 20

The Downtown Improvement District is running Winter Wonder with support from Duke Energy. It runs from Thursday, November 20, 2026, through Saturday, January 3, 2027. Walking into the park is free. Only the skating costs money, according to I Love the Burg.

Tampa Newsroom's announcement lists the $9 Tuesday nights as December 1, 8 and 15. At full price, the $65 season pass costs about as much as three and a half adult tickets. Anyone who plans to skate on weekends or regular weeknights four or more times comes out ahead with the pass. Reservations are open now through the city's ticketing page.

Organizers call it Tampa Bay's only open-air downtown ice rink. The market is small on purpose, with 15 to 20 local businesses over the season. Shopapalooza fills Vinoy Park with more than 350 vendors over Thanksgiving weekend, November 28 and 29. Winter Wonder isn't trying to compete at that size. Its goal is to keep one small park busy for more than 40 days in a row, which a weekend festival can't do.

Three hundred people is the target

Drinkard has a specific number in mind. He wants about 100 people per acre in the park at any given time. With 3.3 acres, that works out to roughly 300 people. "People attract more people," he told the Catalyst.

The layout is built to get there. Biederman's approach splits a public space into smaller "rooms," each giving people a reason to stop. Winter Wonder puts the rink at the north end, a central plaza in the middle and market stalls around the edges. Food and drink go at the south end, where the fountain and veterans memorial stand. Drinkard sees that southern end as a future year-round urban plaza, with events and food and drink seven days a week. For six weeks, Winter Wonder runs a temporary version of that idea.

Size works in the park's favor. In a large open space like Vinoy Park, a small crowd spreads out and disappears. On a block this compact, as the Catalyst put it, activity can build on itself.

The bandshell behind the rink

The rink sits in front of the stage at the north end. Behind it is the reason the park is getting attention again. The 1954 bandshell, designed by architect William B. Harvard, is finishing a restoration that took years longer and cost far more than first planned. Harvard also designed Pasadena Community Church and the original Busch Gardens Hospitality House.

1. 2018. The city starts the renovation process. Drinkard calls the period since "a 10-year lead-up to investing in the park."
2. 2023. City Council approves the project at an estimated $1.95 million, as the Catalyst reported. An earlier Catalyst report said the first $850,000 would come from the city's Downtown Open Space Fund.
3. Fall 2024. Hurricanes Helene and Milton add to the damage the structure already had.
4. September 2025. The Catalyst reports that no crews have broken ground yet and puts the project at $2.2 million.
5. 2026. A January Catalyst report puts the project at about $3 million, roughly 50 percent above the 2023 estimate. Contractors mobilize April 20 for about six months of work.
6. October 7, 2026. I Love the Burg reports construction is nearly complete. It calls Winter Wonder one of the first uses of the updated facility.

The City of St. Petersburg describes the work as a restoration of the historic structure rather than a replacement. Bay News 9 reported that the scope includes steel repair, a new roof, and new lighting and audio-visual systems. Earlier plans also called for rebuilding the green room and back-of-house areas and updating the restrooms.

City Council is already looking past the reopening. In August, council members voted unanimously to explore a city-initiated historic designation for the bandshell. Council member Gina Driscoll brought the request. "It was originally our city's town square," she told the Catalyst, in remarks republished by WUSF. The item goes next to the Housing, Land Use and Transportation Committee. City staff can't evaluate the structure until the renovation is done.

There are also signs of who might use the stage. Drinkard told the Catalyst that The Florida Orchestra has expressed interest in the venue. St. Pete Rising reported that American Stage has been discussed as a cultural partner too.

What the six weeks feed into

Once the rink is gone, the $800,000 state appropriation pays for the next phase. St. Pete Rising lists new entry gateways, lighting, more electrical capacity, and new paths, plaza work and landscaping. Drinkard expects that work to start in early 2027.

That is why Winter Wonder matters past January 3. Electrical service is a good example. The event runs a rink, a market and a food commons at once, which shows how much power the park really needs. The Catalyst reports that lessons from Localtopia, Paddy Fest and the Saturday Morning Market are already shaping the plans. The stated goal is to make the park work better for those established events, not to push them out.

Other ideas for everyday use are still in early stages. Plans reported by the Catalyst in 2025 listed classes, chess, children's activities, lectures, movies and food-truck rallies. A former PSTA ticket office on the site has been discussed as a small coffee spot with outdoor seating. As of January 2026, talks with PSTA were still going.

Before or after a skate

The park sits near places that already keep the hours a skating night needs. The Galley at 27 4th Street North is open daily from 11:30 a.m. to 3 a.m. Social Roost is at 150 1st Avenue North.

Tuesdays work especially well. The James Museum of Western & Wildlife Art at 150 Central Avenue stays open until 8 p.m. on Tuesdays, two hours past the rink's 6 p.m. weekday opening. That leaves time to walk from the galleries to a $9 skate on one of the December Tuesdays. For a larger group, the Central Park food hall at 551 Central Avenue has Constellation Burger, Park Pie, Speaks Pasta and Palm Avenue Deli under one roof.

Across the street, St. Pete First United Methodist Church has used the park for Easter sunrise services and Christmas caroling, according to Bay News 9. This December, the park's north end will also hold an ice rink.

Over the coming year, downtown's oldest park will get a restored bandshell, new lighting and a busier plaza. For residents of nearby towers and historic blocks, those changes affect what everyday life looks like a few minutes from home. If you'd like to talk through what the Williams Park changes could mean for your corner of downtown, The Salamone Group is glad to help. Let's Connect.