FLINT, MI -- With work put in by Kettering University volunteers this weekend, ice skating is on its way back to downtown Flint's historic Atwood Stadium.

About a dozen students from Kettering University's Service Saturdays program went to the stadium on University Avenue to begin assembling the public ice rink that will welcome skaters from around the county.

The city of Flint transferred ownership of Atwood Stadium, a historic Flint landmark that opened in 1929, to Kettering University in September of last year. Kettering's plan was to use the stadium for community events, and university leadership and Genesee County Circuit Judge Duncan Beagle came up with the idea to make it an ice rink.

The rink first opened in January this year, with afternoon and evening skate times three days a week for participants who brought their own skates.

Since then, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has provided the University Avenue Corridor Coalition, which runs the rink, with $150,000 over three years. That money, along with other community initiatives, will be used to fund a warming shelter, benches and seating areas for patrons of the skating rink.

"What that's saying is that this is a healthy community activity: let's come out and exercise in the wintertime," said Jack Stock, director of external relations for Kettering University. "The warming area will be really nice because it'll be easier to take your boots off, put your skates on and hang your coats up, and we'll be providing concessions like hot cocoa."

After several weeks of false starts due to weather, volunteers went to Atwood Stadium at 9 a.m. on Saturday to begin assembling the rink. Stock said it took an hour to unpack all of the pieces from Atwood Stadium storage spaces. They then assembled the pieces, stretched out the tarp, took out air pockets, and clamped the tarp down. The heavy lifting was sandbags, which they placed outside of the rink to keep it stable when water is added on Monday.

"It's really neat, because for these engineering students, they're like LEGOS on steroids," Stock said.

Saturday's work was complete by about 12 p.m. Stock said the water will be added on Monday, when forecasts are predicting warmer weather. Once the water freezes over again from there, the rink will be ready to go.

Free community open skating hours have not been announced yet, but organizers say the times will be structured similarly to last year, which was 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Wednesdays and Fridays and 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturdays. Kettering students will also use the rink for intramural sports like broomball.