Friday marked an unseasonably warm welcome for the season's first ice skaters at Maggie Daley Park.

"I'm sweating right now," said skater Kathy Xiang.

With sunshine and temperatures in the 60s, it didn't feel quite like winter. But the ice remained intact, and dozens of skaters came to enjoy their first spin of the season, with hundreds more reserving spots later in the day.

The skating ribbon officially opened at 11 a.m. Last year, the ribbon had record attendance at close to 150,000 skaters.

"It's been a challenge these last two weeks building ice. We started with 60 degrees and the snowstorm came and then we had to clear that out of the way. But right now we've got strong, thick ice," said operations manager Kevin Klein.

For the 11th year, the quarter-mile-long ice ribbon welcomed

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