After a long day of laughter, Christmas music and skaters at the Napa on Ice rink in 2011, Peter Mott started the engine of his Zamboni with his 9-year-old daughter Maddie on his lap.
Allowing her to take the wheel of the machine as it resurfaced the rink, he gently guided her hands, teaching her how to steer. These late-night lessons became a memorable routine, when father and daughter both learned to navigate the rink together.
“There have been things that I never would have experienced living in California,” said Maddie Mott, now the general manager for San Mateo on Ice. “I get to say that I could drive a Zamboni before I could drive a car because there’s no license you need to drive a Zamboni.”
In 2011, Peter Mott was a member of the Napa City Council. He was inspired by the trips he would make to Union Square to take his two girls ice skating and thought about bringing an ice rink to Napa. He brought it to the council and failed to receive more than two votes to have the city put up an ice rink.
“I was so frustrated,” Peter Mott said. “I went home and talked to my wife. I knew how to run a company and so we started our own.”
Peter Mott, with 30 years of experience running Sunmaster, a window tint and film service, teamed up with his wife, Nancy Mott, to establish On Ice Rinks. He spent many days researching online to grow his knowledge of ice rinks.
“I was internet-trained,” Peter said. “The first year was a big learning curve, but it was really successful.”
During the process of still learning, Peter Mott would hire a separate company to bring in the rink but didn’t provide a Zamboni.
“Back then, we had a golf cart that dragged around this little ice blade,” he said. “You had to shovel the snow real quick.”
After seeing the success and joy it brought to the community, he decided to continue after the two years he only intended to do it. He opened a location in Marin, San Rafael and San Mateo.
Surrounded by the rinks, Maddie Mott’s first job was as a cashier at the age of 14 and moved up to skate guard.
“When I was growing up, all of my friends worked at the ice skating rink,” Maddie said. “It was like a big family every time you went to work.”
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In 2019, they had to downsize their operations and now only have the San Mateo location. Maddie is now the general manager of San Mateo on Ice.
“It has just become a part of my life,” Maddie said. “It’s so integral to who I am. I’m just the ice rink girl.”
Now, the Motts focus on making the San Mateo rink as big as possible. It measures 140 feet long and 78 feet wide — just 60 feet shorter than a standard hockey rink but matching its width.
“We really wanted to bring as many people onto the ice and let as many people skate as they wanted,” Maddie said. “Never have it feel too crowded that you can’t move around. It’s not as fun if you can’t skate and hold hands.”
The ice rink has a capacity of 350 skaters.
Each year, workers would see familiar faces. Connor Spence, who has been working for the family for 12 years, met a mother who would bring her daughter yearly.
“The first time she came, we had no skates her size,” Spence said. “We just took a pair of skates that we could just put her shoes in, then dragged her around the ice for a bit. Eventually, she kept coming and she got big enough to fit in her skates.”
She would hang out with the skate guards and hold their hands until one day, Spence was talking to the mom and her eyes widened. Skates were gliding across the ice and to his surprise, it was her daughter skating alone.
“She is now 9 and competes in figure skating competitions,” Spence said.
“Not a lot of people in California get the chance to skate,” Maddie said. “We like to think that we are able to provide that chance for people. We keep our rink open so that you can skate under the stars. So it kind of feels like you’re back on the East Coast skating on the frozen pond.”
A skating show is also being planned for Dec. 7 at 6:30 p.m. after the Winter Wonderland event hosted by San Mateo Parks and Recreation. There will be holiday music, crafts, photo opportunities, cookie decorating and hot chocolate at the Central Recreation Center, at Central Park. The skating show will be a 30-minute performance featuring the Silicon Valley Ice Skating Association.
Now, for the ninth season, San Mateo on Ice is open through Jan. 12 from noon-10 p.m. The rink provides public skate sessions, private tents and the ability to rent the whole rink. For more information, go to onicerinks.com.
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