From Skatepark to Skating Rink – Palm Beach Gardens Makes Way for Wayne Gretzky’s Ice Rink Dreams

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. – In a quiet, family-oriented neighborhood sits Plant Drive Park, home to Palm Beach Gardens’ lone skatepark and a lifetime of memories.

Soon, it will be home to a brand new ice rink. Following a vote in January by the city council, the peaceful park is soon expected to be overrun by construction workers and bulldozers, who now have a green light to demolish the beloved skatepark, pickleball courts, playgrounds and softball field to make way for a brand new, state-of-the-art ice hockey facility, backed by none other than NHL legend Wayne Gretzky.

The sentence “Field of Dreams” sits atop the bright blue scoreboard overlooking the softball field at Plant Drive Park. At first glance, it looks like an average softball field. 

The meaning behind those words is much deeper. The field was dedicated in memory of Amanda J. Buckley, a star softball player at the neighboring Palm Beach Gardens High School, who was murdered in 2007. She led the team as their pitcher to the Florida State Championships in 2005 and 2006, and accepted an offer to play softball at St. Leo University. She was murdered the summer before her freshman year of college.

Buckley’s memorial will be moved to Palm Beach Gardens High School, but the “Field of Dreams” is set to be demolished along with the rest of the park. The softball team at the high school will no longer play at Plant Drive Park, but move to a field on campus instead. Many friends and former teammates of Buckley’s banded together to sign a petition to stop the demolition, but their efforts proved unsuccessful.

The Palm Beach Gardens city council made the official decision to demolish Plant Drive Park on Jan. 9. Protestors sat in the back of the meeting in matching teal shirts, holding signs stating their opposition to the demolition of the skatepark. The group, entitled “Save Gardens Skatepark,” held many meetups and protests in the community. They even started an Instagram account and a petition that garnered just over 4,000 signatures.

Last April, in a memo to the city council, the City of Palm Beach Gardens described Plant Drive Park as attracting “malcontents who engage in illegal activities.”

The protestors embraced the saying, donning t-shirts with the word “malcontents” plastered in big letters across the front at multiple city council meetings. 

Though the city stated the park attracted criminals, they failed to mention the real benefactors: Palm Beach Gardens families.

On a hot Saturday afternoon, Abraham Martinez, who recently moved to Palm Beach Gardens from California, happily watched his son skateboarding from the bleachers at Plant Drive Park.

“My son just recently discovered his love for skating, and it’s something that has brought us closer together,” Martinez said. “I have been skating since 1995, and my son just started. We love coming here.”

He described the skatepark as a way for families to connect and recounted how popular skating is in the area. When asked if he believed hockey could have the same impact on the community, he replied, “I don’t think so. I don’t know much about the sport, and neither does my son or most of his friends. I can’t see any of them getting into hockey when the rink is built here.”

Hockey is growing in popularity in Florida, with the Florida Panthers' recent Stanley Cup victory being a driving force, but many families in the area already struggle financially, and simply cannot afford to put their children in an expensive sport like ice hockey. The Aspen Institute, which researches youth sports, declared ice hockey as the number one most expensive youth sport, costing families around $2,583 a year. 

At Palm Beach Gardens High School, which sits directly next to Plant Drive Park, 61% of students are economically disadvantaged. 

Hockey is expensive, but skateboarding at a public park is free. 

On the other hand, hockey is the fastest-growing sport in Palm Beach County, according to the Palm Beach Sports Commission. The new hockey facility will include two NHL-sized rinks, a restaurant, a pro shop, and the opportunity of a lifetime. Young, aspiring hockey players will be coached at the Gretzky Hockey School, run by Wayne Gretzky and his son Ty. 

Families from all across South Florida and the state will likely flock to Palm Beach Gardens to allow their children to take advantage of the opportunities this facility offers, but Palm Beach Gardens residents will get a discount for the use of the rinks, as stated by the city council in their approval meeting. 

Many hockey families and players themselves are excited about the opportunities to come in South Florida. 

Justin Harshaw, founder of the Sunshine State Hockey League and current FAU Club Hockey player, outlined how hard it is to find ice time and opportunities for young kids in South Florida.

“Ice time is always full and there is never enough room,” said Harshaw, who grew up playing hockey in the South Florida area. “It should be good for the community and pull kids from Jupiter who don’t have as many options for rinks.”

He also emphasized how most high-level players in the South Florida area have no choice but to move to northern states to play for more well-known programs to help their development in the sport. He added that giving kids a greater hockey education through one of the highest-level hockey programs will be groundbreaking for youth hockey in the area, and will provide opportunities that have never been available in Florida in the past.

“I know when I was growing up in this area, I had no education on high-level hockey in North America.” 

Harshaw said he is glad that the rink is being built, even though it results in the demolition of Plant Drive Park. “There’s way less hockey rinks than skateparks and softball fields. This new rink will bring a new style of training while growing the game in the community.”

Plant Drive Park will live in the memories of the Palm Beach Gardens community. Its demolition isn’t scheduled yet, but the council declared that as soon as the Palm Beach North Athletic Foundation can provide all the funding for the $40 million rink, demolition will begin. The foundation has been given a deadline of July 3 to show the city it has secured 100% of its financing to start construction, the Palm Beach Post reported.

The new rink is expected to open in the summer of 2026, with the support of Gretzky and hockey coach and philanthropist Larry Robbins. Although the rink was initially set to be named the Palm Beach Gardens Sportsplex, the foundation has scrapped that decision, and the name is currently undecided. 

On his support of the new rink, Gretzky said, “Together with my son, we're honored to expand the reach of our hockey school to more residents in Palm Beach County. Hockey has the power to unite communities, and we are thrilled to be a part of bringing that unity to even more people to cultivate a new era of hockey enthusiasts.” 

The skatepark was a great place for families to bond and make memories, but the brand-new ice skating facility in Palm Beach Gardens will provide new opportunities for growth in hockey for young kids in the area.