Ozarks Profile: Jeff Cumley

Tell us about Jordan Valley Ice Park.

The Jordan Valley Ice Park is owned and operated by the Springfield-Greene County Park Board. The 85,000-square-foot facility holds two NHL-sized sheets of ice, full-line pro shop, meeting rooms and is designed to accommodate multi-purpose events. The facility offers youth hockey both in lessons and a Junior Bears House League program, adult hockey leagues, figure skating through group and private lessons as well as freestyle sessions and over 40 hours per week in public sessions. The ice park has three main tenants with the Springfield Youth Hockey Association, Southwest Missouri State University Hockey and Springfield Spirit Junior A Hockey. There will be a fourth tenant soon with the introduction of the Jordan Valley Figure Skating Club.

Specifically, what do you do?

I oversee the direction for the ice park as it relates to the needs of the customers, Parks Department and the city of Springfield. We have an excellent staff dedicated to this cause and I focus on providing them the tools and opportunities they need to succeed.

What is the biggest challenge in your work, and how do you deal with it?

The biggest challenge is growing ice sports in an area that hasn't had ice sports for almost 30 years. We are fortunate to have customers who want to learn, but also customers who are transplants from other cities that have ice sports. They help spread the word on how much fun it is.

Has enthusiasm for ice sports caught on well in the Ozarks?

Ice sports are catching on. This is evident through the increase in numbers in all of our programs within hockey and figure skating. The ice park continues to be a popular place for large youth groups and birthday parties, and the increase in spectators for teams like SMS Bears is double and sometimes triple what it was their first year. This is a great place for family entertainment.

What are some things you are doing to bring visitors to the ice park?

The ice park continues to advertise as effectively as possible through print, electronic media and direct mail. We have also increased our appearances at special events setting up information booths, including an interactive hockey shooting net. We introduced a new mascot for the Parks Department named Parker the Penguin. Traditionally for all rinks, summertime is the slowest time of the year. That time is actually when the ice park hosts its largest event of the year with SnowFest. That same time is also used to bring new customers to the ice park through programs like the Xtreme Skate Zone for skateboards and roller blades. The ice park also runs the Zamboni School. This is the only program of its kind in the nation allowing customers the ability to learn how to drive the Zamboni ice resurfacing machine. The ice park will host the USA Hockey Nationals 17 & Under and the ACHA League Tournament (SMS League) in 2005.