With the 2002 Winter Olympic Games under way, local recreation areas are seeing an increase in attendance at winter sports facilities.

Managers at the Ames/ISU Ice Arena, 1505 Gateway Hill Park Drive, and Seven Oaks Recreation Area, Boone, believe the Olympics are generating more interest in winter sports.

“We have seen a huge increase in the amount of interest in ice sports this season,” said Fred Sylvia, manager of the Ames/ISU Ice Arena. “The new arena certainly helps us but I do think the Olympics contribute to the growing popularity of ice sports.”

The old ice arena, which was replaced by the new facility in April 2001, saw an increase in participation during past Winter Olympic years, Sylvia said.

“During normal public skating hours, we would see 100 to 125 people in two hours,” he said. “During Olympic seasons, however, we’ve expanded our public skating hours. We would easily see 400 people in four hours.”

Sylvia expects the same to happen this year. “The only difference between the Olympics this year and past Olympic seasons is that, up until now, there hasn’t been a lot of hype about this year’s Olympic Games. It’s been rather subdued compared to prior seasons, when the publicity for the Olympics began early in December,” he said.

“Having said that, we are definitely seeing more people come in now, and expect this Olympic season to be like prior Olympic years.”

Joel Bryan, manager of Seven Oaks, said he will see more people come to his park during the Olympics.

“I can’t speculate yet how much of an impact the Olympics will have on business here, but I have talked with managers at other area ski resorts who have definitely noticed an increase in numbers during Olympic years,” Bryan said. “I think people are realizing how enjoyable winter sports really are.”

Unlike the old ice arena, Seven Oaks has not benefited from prior Olympic seasons.

Seven Oaks, located four miles west of Boone, opened during the 1997-98 winter season and was not very well known during the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan.

“We were converting country pasture into a ski park right before the last Winter Olympics,” Bryan said. “We hadn’t done a lot of marketing for the park at that time.”

Neither recreation facility is holding special events in connection with the Olympics.

“It’s tough to coordinate activities around events such as the Olympics because we book our ice times a year in advance,” Sylvia said of the ice arena. “We’d really like to add more public skating times to the schedule, but our club teams require so much ice time that it’s nearly impossible to do.”

Bryan said marketing and advertising may change a little for Seven Oaks, which features eight ski runs and a tubing park.

Neither Sylvia nor Bryan will be in Salt Lake City during this year’s Olympic Games.

However, Bryan has connections within the ski industry that will be at the Olympics.

“My chair lift manufacturer offered me free lodging and car rental if I could pay my own airfare out to Salt Lake City,” Bryan said. “I have a business to run, though, so I’ll be watching the Olympics on TV from here like everyone else.”