The tradition of ice skating out-of-doors in the Klamath Basin began in the early 1900s when the city created a community ice rink near Moore Park along the south shore of Upper Klamath Lake. This natural sheet of ice was a popular winter recreation site. However, in the 1970s, due to changing climate and city budget constraints, the rink was forced to close. In the 1990's, Bill Collier, a local retiree and former hockey player, began to personally renovate the historic site. He spent cold winter nights and early mornings spraying the dirt patch with water from a fire hose to create the sheet of ice.