Northern Ice and Dance is the most comprehensive figure skating, dance and gymnastics store in the Northern New York.
Over the past 30 years this business has changed owners, changed names and has moved all over the North Country. The business started as Holly House in the mid 1970's. Owned by Betty Hollenbaugh, it was located on the Old De Kalb Road in Canton, about 4 miles out of town on the road behind Coakley True Value Hardware. In the early 80's it was sold to Maggie Stacy who kept the location but changed the name to Maggie's Patch. Maggie originated the tradition of the "Patch" name that was to remain with the business for 20 years. She also sold me my first pair of figure skates!
In 1987 Maggie sold her business to Peggy Cambridge and the business became Peggy's Patch. The business was moved to Butternut Ridge Road in Canton. Peggy expanded into designing and sewing skating dresses. Eight years after buying the business, Peggy sold the skate business but she remains active as the North Country's leading skating dress designer under the business name Peggy's Patch.
In January of 1994 Cathy Minnetyan bought the business and carried on the tradition by renaming it Cathy's Patch. The business was moved to Hatch Road, West Stockholm. She operated in West Stockholm until 1997, moved to Potsdam for two years before settling on Hodskin Street in Canton. Cathy expanded the reach of the business by purchasing The Skater's Loft in Ogdensburg. Her second location remained open for two years before she consolidated both into the one store in Canton. In addition to figure skating, Cathy introduced the North Country to dance apparel and footwear making it possible for the expanding dance market to buy supplies locally. Cathy operated successfully for 11 years.
In February of 2005 I purchased the business from Cathy, moved it to the front showroom of my first business, The Sports Exchange, located on Outer Market Street in Potsdam. In August, The Sports Exchange was sold and the figure skating, dance and gymnastics part of the business was moved into its own brand new building. The new location is River Road in Hannawa Falls and the new name is Northern Ice and Dance.
