Iron Trail Motors Event Center

Iron Trail Motors Event Center is an ice arena and Event Center located in the city of Virginia, Minnesota. It was completed in September 2021.^[1] The two-story building has a 120,000 square-foot total area and includes two ice rinks, fitness facilities and a 6,400-square-foot ballroom for weddings. It can also be used as a venue center for concerts.^[1] The arena offers skating lessons, open skating and open hockey.^[2] The arena is the home rink for the Rock Ridge Wolverines Hockey.^[3] The Rock Ridge Hockey Association coordinates the youth hockey program.

Iron Trail Motors Event Center

MECC
Location	919 6th St S Virginia, Minnesota 55792
Public transit	Arrowhead Transit
Owner	The City of Virginia
Operator	The City of Virginia
Capacity	5,000+
Surface	Ice
Construction
Opened	2021
Construction cost	$38 Million
Tenants
Rock Ridge Wolverines (2021–present)

History

The Miners Memorial Building was originally built in 1958 and that arena was used for Virginia Blue Devils hockey until the 2020-2021 season and was demolished in 2021 after the last high school game in the Miners Virginia vs. their biggest rivals of the time Eveleth.^[4][5] The two teams were rivals until the 2021 season when the two teams as the Rock Ridge Wolverines due to the new Rock Ridge High school and elementary schools being opened in 2022 (Elem.) and 2023 (HS).^[6][7] The new Iron Trail Motors Event Center was originally going to be named Miners Event Convention Center (MECC) but Iron Trail Motors, a car dealership in Virginia off U.S. 53 bought stakes in the arena in summer 2021 and changed the name for 20 years at a cost of 1.1 million dollars.^[8][9]

Public bus transportation

Local public transit is provided by Arrowhead Transit, which has a bus stop outside of the Iron Trail Motors Event Center and operates a demand response service.^[10]