Two months ago, staging The Wizard of Oz on Ice at the Queenstown Ice Arena was a dream held by ice skating coach Deanna Pielak-Jones, and now, after devising routines, six weeks of practising and an answered call for a castle builder, it is well and truly a reality.
''On the ice, you have got to have big things because it's a big area,'' Ms Pielak-Jones said, and with the Emerald Castle nearly reaching the ice rink's ceiling, the construction has filled that prerequisite.
''It's about 10m in length and then it goes past the beams [in the arena],'' she said of the castle built by two fathers of skaters.
A small budget has been supplemented by a generous community spirit, with the arena owners supplying paint and ice time, Placemakers supplying castle supplies, Ricoh helping out with posters, Queenstown Signs coming up with a giant banner which will be strung up on Ballarat St the week before the show and United Scaffolding providing scaffolding.
The response has blown away Ms Pielak-Jones, the arena's ice skating coach, who has previously organised ice shows in Dunedin and has trained award-winning figure skaters.
Determined to utilise all with skills, younger ice hockey players will become a twister and older hockey players will deliver drinks to the 10 on-ice ''special premium tables''.
''The tables will be on carpet and we will have little alleyways for the skaters.''
The 80 skaters involved in the show range from 4 years old to those in their mid-60s. Proceeds from the show will buy ice time for next year.
• The Wizard of Oz on Ice will be held on Friday, October 4 at 6.30pm and Saturday, October 5 at 1pm and 5pm at the Queenstown Ice Arena.
