Ice Bumpers at Land Grant's Wintergarden
Sometimes, you want to feel like a kid again as an adult. This week, we combined brews with childhood fun as we took a ride in ice bumper cars at Land Grant’s Gravity Park. Gravity Park is a relatively new addition to the downtown area by the Gravity apartments. The park is a few older parking lots that are slowly being transformed into an outdoor playground for adults. The space contains multiple spots to find a beverage, ice bumper cars, heated igloos, ice curling with mini kegs, and a large open viewing area where sports can be projected on a screen.
During the day, you can see the construction and renovations being done, but at night, it shines- literally. There are colored lights on almost everything that brings it all to life. We didn’t realize the park had so many activities when we signed up for our bumper car session, so we must return and try out the curling! For our visit, we bought tickets ahead of time (a must for almost all the activities). It cost us ten dollars for a ten-minute ride in the car, which was a perfect amount of time.
The bar had a plethora of beers to choose from, not only made by LandGrant but other breweries as well. You can see the beer being made in its large contraptions through a window to the left while enjoying a brew. Josh tried a Japanese beer, and I snagged one of their cocktails made by a local business called SimpleTimes. We headed out to one of the firepits to enjoy. Food trucks were out by the entrance and are open some nights and during the weekend, too!
When arriving, you’ll know you’ve found the right spot when you see multiple storage containers stacked up to form an arch adorned with a mural. We found paid parking right out front, but it is limited, so keep in mind the multiple parking garages nearby! Before going on the ice, we signed a waiver, showed our tickets, and watched a short video to learn how to control our cars. Then we were off! The controls are much wilder than we anticipated, creating half the fun! Young and old alike were cracking up as we spun in circles and bounced off each other. By the end, we were dizzy with forearms that were ready to be done. We walked past the curlers and headed into the warm taproom to grab a drink.
Overall, the outdoor space is in freshly made construction mode, but we want to see what it will become in the next few years. We must also stop by in the summer when ice bumpers and curling turn into something else!
