Center features Frozen fun

Let it go -- the summer heat, that is. The Jones Center in Springdale plans to welcome princes and princesses this weekend for a skating event with characters from the movie "Frozen."

As Olaf sang in the popular film, "The hot and the cold are both so intense, put 'em together it just makes sense."

The Jones Center will host a "Frozen"-themed ice skating event from noon to 3 p.m. Saturday, says Jake Lane, marketing and communications manager for the center. Admission will be $3 per person with no fee for skate rental.

Participants can dress up as characters from the movie or as any prince or princess they'd like, Lane says. There will also be photo opportunities with characters from the film, and children will get to listen to the movie's soundtrack.

The Snow Queen and Ice Princess, Elsa-like and Anna-like characters, will be at the event and will even get on the ice with skaters, says Brittany Taylor, owner of Once Upon a Party NWA. The company provides characters for parties and events in the region.

All of the actors who play characters with the company have theater experience, Taylor says. The majority of them are currently studying drama at the University of Arkansas.

"It's the perfect college job," she says.

Taylor says she will be playing the Ice Princess at the Saturday event. She explains that she has a master of fine arts degree in play writing and a bachelor of fine arts degree in theater.

Taylor also says the questions the characters get from the children are fun and allow the characters to get creative with their answers. She says she gets to be silly when she plays the Ice Princess character, like making mustaches with her braids.

"She always wants to build a snowman," she says.

Lane says they chose "Frozen" as the theme because of the movie's popularity.

"The movie has become a generational sensation," he says.

-- Erin Spandorf

espandorf@nwadg.com