Year of Joy to Welcome Hundreds of Local Children for Holiday Fun

The 9th annual Year of Joy® Holiday Ice Skating Party, the city’s only free ice-skating party for children from underserved communities, takes place 5 - 7 p.m. Tues., Dec. 10, at Green Mountain Energy Ice at Discovery Green ®, 1500 McKinney.

The event is sponsored by H-E-B and the Houston Chronicle with support from the Zeta Tau Lambda chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha, Inc.

Some 200 children from Third Ward and surrounding areas will enjoy holiday fun on ice. This year, participating school groups are Hartsfield Elementary, Hype Freedom School, Southside Community Center, Sehah Youth and Fitness Center and Be A Resource for Children, which supports children in foster care.

The event is being held in partnership with Discovery Green Conservancy. The ice rink, managed by Ice Rink Events, is generously opening an hour early and, along with the conservancy, is providing admission and skate rental for the children.

Several local competitive skaters will dazzle with performances on ice, while onstage, there’ll be a dance performance by ballerina Briley McGowen who stars in Houston’s Urban Nutcracker Dec. 21-22 at Stafford Convention Centre, and Miss Houston ambassadors will sing holiday tunes. Of course, Santa Claus, a volunteer with 100 Black Men of Houston, will join the fun. Fox 26 anchor Chelsea Edwards will serve as emcee.

The Year of Joy Holiday Ice Skating Party was started in December 2016 by Houston Chronicle Columnist Joy Sewing, a former competitive skater who became Houston’s first Black figure-skating coach while in college.

Year of Joy® is a 501c3 non-profit organization.