Wild Bright — South Pole Illuminated Festival
An 80-foot real-ice skating rink inside McAllen’s illuminated holiday festival at the Convention Center’s Oval Park.
Illustration only — not a photo of this rink.
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Plan your visit
The rink sits inside the South Pole Illuminated Festival at the Convention Center’s Oval Park — millions of lights, a carnival with a Ferris wheel, the Driscoll Electric Parade and weekend fireworks around the ice. Festival admission and skating prices are published on the festival’s own site, so check there for the current rates before going; the festival runs November 28 – December 28, 2026.
What makes this rink distinctive
McAllen’s own real-ice rink — the city manager introduced it as “an ice skating rink with 80 feet of real ice” — inside one of Texas’s biggest illuminated festivals, with a 100-foot-plus digital Christmas tree and the McAllen Holiday Parade on December 5.
Official tickets and session information
Schedules, prices and closures can change. Check the venue's own site before setting out.
Season status: November 28 – December 28, 2026 per the operator’s festival site and the McAllen Holiday Parade site (tree-lighting page: “officially opens on November 28, 2026”). Early festival announcements and an October 8, 2026 sponsor report said November 27; the operator’s current schedule governs. Real ice: City Manager Isaac J. Tawil, quoted in The Monitor, “an ice skating rink with 80 feet of real ice.”
Visitor reviews
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