The City of Hillsboro's page for this season's rink has a new banner, and it says "Open 7 days a week!" Winter Village returns to Jerry Willey Plaza at Orenco Station on Sunday, November 29, and runs through January 10, 2027. Last season it was open four days a week. That sounds like a big expansion.
In a regular week of the 2025–26 season, the rink ran seven public sessions a day, Thursday through Sunday, for 28 sessions a week. This season a regular week has three evening sessions on each weekday and seven on each weekend day, for 29. The city added one session a week and spread the schedule across the calendar. For anyone planning a skate, the real change is when the ice is open, not how much of it there is.
Four Schedules Since 2015
Winter Village has rarely kept the same schedule two years in a row. According to the Hillsboro News-Times, the first rink went up in December 2015 at a plaza that had opened that August. A month later, the same paper reported that more than 5,000 skaters came that first season and that the 2016–17 rink was open daily through January 2, with $10 Teen Tuesdays and a $35 family-of-four Wednesday skate.
The rink skipped 2023 entirely. When it came back in 2024, the Hillsboro News-Times reported that the city had canceled the previous year because of limited resources. Each season since has used a different weekly pattern.
| Season | Public skate days | Daily sessions | Capacity per session |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016–17 | Daily, with holiday exceptions | Not reported | Not reported |
| 2024–25 | Wednesday to Sunday | 10 a.m. through 7 p.m. | About 55 |
| 2025–26 | Thursday to Sunday | Seven, 10 a.m. through 7 p.m. | About 45 |
| 2026–27 | Every day | Three on weekday evenings, seven on weekends | About 45 |
The 2024 season set aside Tuesdays for private rentals, which ran $300 for three hours with room for about 30 skaters. At a 55-person capacity, that year's Wednesday-to-Sunday schedule offered more public seats each week than either season since. The 2026 schedule is the first time since that early run that the rink opens for the public every day of the week.
Where the New Hours Went
The weekday sessions start at 4, 5:30 and 7 p.m., Monday through Friday. Saturdays and Sundays run all day, with sessions at 10 a.m., 11:30 a.m., 1, 2:30, 4, 5:30 and 7 p.m. Last season had midday sessions on Thursdays and Fridays. This season has no public skating on weekdays before 4 p.m. outside of winter break.
Winter break is where the schedule really grows. From December 19 through January 3, the city's schedule lists seven sessions a day, from 10 a.m. through 7 p.m., with the rink closed December 24, December 25 and January 1. Skating lessons are also listed for December 30 and 31, and the rink is closed to the public during lessons, so check those two evenings with the city before planning on them. Last year the break stretch was still mostly Thursday to Sunday, plus one extra full day on Tuesday, December 23. A Monday or Tuesday during the break now has as much ice time as a Saturday.
That trade-off matters because each session holds about 45 people, and every session is first come, first served. With limited seats and walk-up tickets only, the plan for your visit is mostly a matter of timing.
How to Get a Spot When You Can't Buy Ahead
The city doesn't sell tickets in advance. You buy them in person on the day you skate, up to 15 minutes before your session, and the city asks skaters to arrive 15 minutes early. In practice, a few things help:
- Do the waiver at home. A parent or legal guardian has to complete a participation waiver for each youth skater, and the city offers it online.
- Plan for an adult on the ice. Children 13 and under have to be accompanied on the ice by a paying adult.
- Know the prices. Admission is $19 general and $16 for ages 13 and under, and children 3 and under skate free. Skate rental is included. SNAP/EBT pricing is $10 and $8 with proof of benefits. A "Bobby the Seal" skate aid rents for $5. The youth rate now covers more ages than it did in 2024, when $16 was for ages 4 to 10.
- Bringing your own skates won't save money. There's no discount for them. Helmets are optional and provided free.
- Take the MAX or use the garages. The plaza sits at the Orenco Station stop on the MAX Blue and Red lines. Street parking is limited, and the Rowlock and Vector garages offer the first two hours free with a ticket displayed in your window.
Last season, Your Oregon News reported that payment was card-only, with a reverse ATM on site. The rink is outdoors but fully covered.
The Evenings the Rink Is Reserved
Some weekday evenings belong to a group other than the general public. On Wednesday and Thursday evenings in December and early January, the Winterhawks ICE Centers run skating lessons at 5:45 and 7 p.m. for ages 3 to 5 and 6 to adult. Each one-hour lesson is 30 minutes of instruction and 30 minutes of free skating. Registration opened October 5 on the city's ActiveNet system.
During lessons the rink is closed to public skating. The city says that on December 2, 3, 9, 10, 16 and 17 and January 6 and 7, the last public session starts at 4 p.m. On those eight weekday evenings, the 4 p.m. session is the only public skate of the day, so after-work plans on a Wednesday or Thursday in December need checking against that list.
Other sessions are set aside for a different kind of skater. Sensory-friendly skates are scheduled for the 7 p.m. sessions on Tuesdays, December 1 and 8, and Tuesday, January 5, with reduced capacity, lower lighting and softer music. Last season these sessions ran on weekday mornings. This year they fall on evenings, which matches the rest of the weekday schedule.
The busiest day on the calendar is likely Snow Much Fun on Saturday, December 19, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., the first day of winter break. The plaza gets snow flurries at the top of every hour, a visit from Santa, baby reindeer goats, holiday music, and a pop-up market of more than 30 vendors from the Children's Entrepreneur Market. Regular skate times still apply.
Around the Plaza While You Wait
A walk-up system means some waiting, and Orenco Station has plenty close by. Ava Roasteria faces the rink from 936 NE Orenco Station Loop and is open daily from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., which covers even the 7 p.m. session. Salam is at 1002 NE Orenco Station Parkway, and Yuki Sushi & Sake Bar is a few blocks up at 1335 NE Orenco Station Parkway. Out toward Cornell, The Dignitary is at 6195 NE Cornell Road, and La Provence offers French pastries and a breakfast-and-lunch menu for weekend morning skaters.
The plaza's name has local history too. It opened in 2015 as Orenco Station Plaza and was renamed for Jerry Willey, Hillsboro's mayor from 2009 until January 2017, with a dedication held in June 2017.
Downtown Lights Its Tree First
Hillsboro's season has two centers, and downtown starts first. On Friday, November 13, between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m., the city's holiday tree travels down Main Street to Civic Plaza. HWY Heavy Hauling, one of the tree sponsors, harvests it and trucks it in. The City of Hillsboro sponsors the decorating, and the Hillsboro Downtown Partnership does the work.
The tree is lit at Holly Days on Saturday, November 21, which runs from 2 to 7 p.m. with the lighting at 6. The event brings an artisan market, carolers and live music, and Santa's North Pole is at HART Theatre at 2nd Avenue and Washington Street. Holly Days falls eight days before the rink opens, so downtown's tree is lit before the first skater takes the ice at Orenco Station.
If you're planning the holidays around both ends of town, or thinking about which part of Hillsboro fits the way your household spends its weekends, I'm glad to talk it through. Matt Booth Winback follows these local calendars closely, from Orenco Station to Main Street. Let's Connect.
