One of the biggest U.S. flags in Lancaster County was waving powerfully in the wind beyond the outfield fence as skater Kathy Shaub took a break Monday afternoon.

She had just finished a few laps around the ice, but overall "it seems like we've done a lot more eating than skating!" she joked.

"But we plan on getting out there some more."

By "out there," she meant the Clipper Magazine Stadium Ice Park, which Monday was filled with visitors and skaters for its final day of operations for the 2011-12 season.

Kathy Shaub, who skated skillfully alongside her daughter, Hannah, 10, and Hannah's 9-year-old friend, Lily Nauman, was part of a busy Presidents Day for the popular ice-skating rink inside the ballpark.

And popular was definitely the word for the ice park this year — the busiest season yet for the park, said officials with the Lancaster Barnstormers, who completed the rink's sixth season on Monday.

A record of more than 35,000 skaters took to the ice this winter, well up from 25,000 last season, and total visitors reached 50,000.

One official called it "just a great season for us."

Many who skated this winter found weather a lot like Monday's: "It's not too cold, and it's not too hot," 11-year-old Ben Gehman of Clay Township noted, while his dad, Tony, laced up his skates.

"I was bored because I had off school," added Ben, who often skates on a pond near home … which can take a while to freeze, he said.

"The ice is more dependable here," his dad said.

Such slightly warmer weather like Monday's has "helped us, especially the last couple of weeks," Barnstormers official Anthony DeMarco said.

People don't like to skate when it's too cold or blustery, organizers of the stadium ice rink have long said, but if it's too warm, above 55 degrees, the rink will turn into slush.

Three youth hockey games held at the rink this winter were a big hit, so the 'Stormers plan to have a full slate of midget hockey "mini-Winter Classics" at the rink for 2012-13, DeMarco said.

He has seen "a lot of families skating here, and that's a great, great way to spend a day when it's 50 degrees out," said DeMarco, the team's senior marketing director.

There also have been "a lot of 'date nights' out here," plus a lot of visits by students from nearby Franklin & Marshall College, Millersville University and other schools.

While he spoke, skaters — a mix of couples, a few talented solo skaters and even some families holding each other upright — circled the rink to the sounds of everything from Dierks Bentley's "Free and Easy Down the Road I Go" to Van Halen's "Panama" on the stadium sound system.

The original plan was to keep the ice rink — which opened just before Christmas and offered skating Thursdays through Sundays most weeks since then — operating through Feb. 12.

But the popularity encouraged organizers to try a few extra days, giving visitors such as the Shaubs a chance to make it out to the 135-by-80-foot rink in the ballpark's right-field area.

And the rink again was part of Lancaster's New Year's Eve celebration, with skating included in the event's admission.

doconnor@lnpnews.com