While some companies simply parachute into Vail to bring an event to the valley, Eddie Shipstad, producer of Ice Spectacular, has deep roots in Vail — specifically, at Dobson Arena. After its extensive renovation, the Dobson Arena is set to open this fall and host Vail’s Ice Spectacular at 6:30 p.m. Dec. 23. When Shipstad announced the show, which features seven Olympians, ticket sales soared. The meet-and-greet is already sold out, but tickets for the show are still available.

Shipstad, a five-time National competitor and former principal soloist with Disney’s World on Ice in the U.S., Mexico, Canada and Japan, skated at shows at Dobson Arena, including the grand opening, and his dad managed Dobson Arena in the mid- to late-1980s when they lived in Edwards.

“There’s nothing like being a kid in Vail because your parents just kind of let you go — you can hop on the buses,” he said about his time in Vail before his family moved back to Colorado Springs. “And every year, coming up to Vail for the Vail Invitational Competition was a must.”

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He spent countless days at Dobson Arena, including a summer training with the likes of 1994 Olympic silver medalist (and 1992 Olympic bronze medalist) Nancy Kerrigan and Paul Wiley, the 1992 Olympic silver medalist (the ice rink at Beaver Creek features a bronze statue of Wiley, along with Kristi Yamaguchi).

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“They were treated like royalty. So, typically when you get the best judges, people hear about it, and then they want to go to that competition,” he said, adding that skaters, judges and coaches still love to come to the Vail Invitational. “But, back in the day, I feel like it was definitely the level of judging they had, and then that drew in the top skaters wanting to get their program out in July and see what those top judges thought of it.”

Shipstad’s dad also significantly contributed to attracting coaches and skaters to train at Dobson. As the 16-year manager of the Broadmoor World Arena, a world-famous training facility where Shipstad mostly grew up skating, he knew coaches throughout the nation.

“When they heard that he was up in Vail, I think that was a draw. They would get good ice time and be a part of that summer program,” he said, adding that the high-elevation training prior to competitive seasons also acted as an incentive.

Like his dad, Shipstad steeps himself in the world of figure skating, attracting top-level athletes. He launched the Vail Ice Spectacular in 2018 with some of the best skaters in the nation, and since then, it has grown in popularity.

The new Dobson Arena accommodates 1,400 spectators, and as of July 30, approximately 600 tickets out of 1,400 were already sold. And, word of the incredibly high-quality show is spreading; when ticket sales opened on July 1, 62% of first-day sales stemmed from new customers, he said.

“Every single day when I look on my ticket app, I’m shocked at the amount of new ticket requests from people that have not seen the show before,” he said, adding that Vail is a magical place — and the perfect place to host the show, especially because the town fully supports it.

“The Town of Vail sees the vision of our show,” he said. “Ticket sales alone could never make this show happen. The Town of Vail sees the value in our production and what it means to bring in the highest level of skating during one of the busiest weeks of the year to the best resort in the world. It’s just a win-win for everybody.”

And that includes the skaters who perform. Shipstad and his show in Vail seem to have that sparkling quality that draws in busy Olympians who are still actively competing.

This year, the show features two-time Olympic gold medalists Madison Chock and Evan Bates; Olympic gold medalist and three-time world champion Ilia Malinin; Olympic gold medalists in the 2026 team event and 2024 National champions Ellie Kam and Danny O’Shea; National champion and Olympic bronze medalist in the 2014 team event Jason Brown; and Olympian and National silver medalist Andrew Torgashev.

The fact that it takes place 13 days before the 2027 U.S. Figure Skating Championships (aka Nationals, which begins Jan. 5), means that it’s typically the last time before the weighty competition that the skaters perform their short programs in front of a live audience.

“They like to put their big jumps in their (Ice Spectacular) program and make sure everything works and get a good audience reaction, because every single day that they train, there’s no one watching, and then, all of the sudden, they’re on this humongous stage, so to get some kind of reaction from the crowd is really special. And, you know, Vail rocks. The Vail crowd is great,” Shipstad said.

He’s excited about Dobson’s seating — without hockey glass, for the show — on both lengths of the ice, because one thing he learned from directing skating shows at University of Denver was that crowds feed off each other. In fact, in the Ice Spectacular, audiences sit on all four sides of the sheet of ice.

“When you see somebody react to something, it makes it even more special,” he said. “I think there’s going to be more interaction with the crowd being on both sides, and that creates a lot more energy.”

While the first half of the show features competitors’ short programs, the second half honors our nation’s birthday through music by American artists. The entire 90-minute show bursts with excitement, with the second half transpiring like a fireworks finale through its nonstop, approximately 2-minute programs, most of which the artists pack in everything they can fit.

“We just go from skater to skater to skater. To me, it’s the most exciting 30 or 35 minutes that you can see in a skating production,” he said, adding that he dials in lighting to set the mood for each routine. “I’m a real lighting geek.”

He honed his lighting skills studying from the director of figure skating at the University of Denver from 1999 to 2004. Yet, his training in lighting started long ago, when he ran spotlights for Scott Hamilton’s Christmas party in Vail, which his dad directed.

“But I really got to learn my craft at the University of Denver at Magnus Arena,” he said, talking about how they brought in Vari-Lite, the same lighting company that illuminated the Academy Awards, various concerts and Vegas productions and learned how to be creative with 80 moving lights.

One year, he brought in two 40-foot flying trusses that just came off the Backstreet Boys tour and choreographed two programs for the show.

He also learned about show production watching both his dad’s and grandfather’s shows. In fact, his grandfather pioneered the first traveling ice show in the world: the Shipstads and Johnson Ice Follies.

“Being the first traveling ice show in 1936 was amazing,” he said, recalling how he got to see the shows when they came through Denver. “It was the thing to do for the movie stars in Los Angeles, to come and see the opening of the show. I have pictures from all the stars that would come, from Clark Gable to Elizabeth Taylor and Ronald Reagan when he was a movie star.”

Attending plenty of rock concerts also influenced how Shipstad runs his skating shows; he even majored in music.

“I’m a big music fan, and I love a big production. My first concert ever was Dec. 2, 1979. It was KISS,” he said, talking about how he picked up tips on what worked when he witnessed impressive productions over the years.

He still edits music for the shows, cutting down skaters’ long competitive programs and putting all of the music together, including those for group numbers. In addition to the Vail shows, he runs corporate events, which include short skating shows for Destination Services of Colorado at the Broadmoor World Arena, and was hired for the pre-game VIP kick-off party for Superbowl XLVI, with skaters performing every 30 minutes on the EZ Glide synthetic surface.

In 2015, he earned the prestigious Ritter F. Shumway award “for unending dedication and significant contribution to the world of figure skating.”

But the real test of his talent and caring shines through the feedback of current Olympians who trek up to Vail to perform. While Shipstad pays them well and books luxury hotels for extra comfort, when Channel 9 asked Bates what enticed him to perform in Vail he said that his good friend, Nathan Chen, had the time of his life — he loved the rink and performing for the crowd and fell in love with Vail and the overall experience.

“That was our goal when we started the show in 2018. It was: Let’s get the best skaters up here. Let’s put on the best show we can in 90 minutes,” Shipstad said.

Sometimes, before or after the show, the skaters go to the Solaris and play around.

“Jason Brown is behind it all. He loves to skate, and he’s just such a magnetic personality. Everybody loves Jason. And Jason’s like, ‘Hey everybody, let’s go skating outdoors,'” Shipstad said. “I really want them to have a great time, so we give them the best opportunities. They have a lot of fun doing the show.”

In addition to the ticketed Ice Spectacular, free, 15-minute outdoor exhibitions featuring Team USA and seasoned professionals alternate between the Solaris and Arrabelle rinks at 4:45 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. starting Nov. 28 and run every Saturday through Jan. 2. Each week, different skaters perform.

Shipstad has an intimate understanding of the skating world, having trained and performed in more than 200 shows at the Broadmoor World Arena with top athletes from around the world.

“The magical thing about the Broadmoor Hotel and having the rink right there is that you were always performing. That hotel was always busy, and the guests would walk into the rink — sometimes you’d have 200 people watching a single freestyle (session) just as entertainment,” he said.

Competing at Nationals also gave him the “bug” to perform, which led him to skate for Disney on Ice for 2 ½ years. When he began touring with Disney in Florida, he and the other skaters rode in an old bus that still had “Ice Follies” painted on it, from his grandfather’s days.

“I fell in love with shows watching my dad’s shows a lot, whether it was the Broadmoor shows or my dad’s show at SeaWorld, (which made) an impact in 25 minutes. There’s an art to it, and I watched him craft those things together — the (month-long) show at Radio City Music Hall was an unbelievable production,” he said, adding that he also avidly watched skater’s televised shows, such as Scott Hamilton’s, Dorothy Hamill’s and Kurt Browning’s. “Seeing all those aspects definitely made me fall in love with the sport, and I loved performing. I loved competing, and I love coaching now.”

He’s been coaching for 36 years and has become a masterful jump technician. He begins his work day at 5:45 a.m. and finishes most days at 6:15 p.m. five days a week, with 60- to 90-minute lunch breaks. Though he teaches all levels, one of his passions involves helping skaters with triple and quadruple jumps.

“A lot of my day is spent with the pole harness, where I get to skate with a skater; I have them strapped to this harness, so I can feel the four revolutions. It’s a pretty cool feeling,” he said, adding that although he has been accidentally kicked by a skater during harness practice, “it’s very exciting.”

He also coaches pairs, where he shadows the female, carefully ensuring that he doesn’t hit her male counterpart.

“There are a lot of fun things to my day,” he said, adding that, these days, his feet never leave the ice (in terms of jumps), but “I still get to skate pretty fast to keep up with those kids doing quads and triples. There’s nothing like skating on the ice.”

He’s always busy creating; the day after the Ice Spectacular ends, he starts dreaming up next year’s show, as well as the six free Saturday shows. He even begins contacting skaters early in January.

He encourages locals to buy tickets to the Ice Spectacular now, “because the show will definitely sell out, and I think it’s going to sell out before December,” he said. “I want the locals to have an advantage on getting some tickets because they are going fast right now.”

He also recommends the on-ice seats at each end of the ice for an even more up-close experience.

“The breeze of the skates gliding by, the height of the jumps and lifts and the weight of the skaters hitting the ice on triple jumps —  you can actually feel the vibration over the ice to the flooring. … Since the rink is smaller due to the flooring, the skaters perform these difficult elements very close to the flooring. The end seats are a ton of fun,”  he said, adding that every seat in Dobson is fantastic. “The steepness is large, and you feel on top of the action.”

For more information and tickets to 90 minutes of high-energy ice entertainment, visit vailskatefest.com.