Freeport will have its first town ice-skating rink when the second phase of the town’s new Leon Gorman Park is completed by the middle of next month.

The 8.1-acre park is a gift to the town from L.L. Bean to celebrate the 95th birthday of the town’s famous retailer. Bean paid about $1.3 million to buy the land for the park and maintain it, and also to build trails and a variety of amenities in the park.

In addition to the skating rink, the park will feature a nearby fire pit with a pavilion where skaters can put on their skates and warm up. The skating pond will be about a foot deep and will have a small, separate section for young children and beginners and a larger area for other skaters and pick-up hockey games.

Construction has started on the skating pond and, depending on the weather, it could be available for use by mid-December, said John Oliver, Bean vice president of public affairs. “We’re certainly hoping it is up and operating by the Christmas holidays,” Oliver said.

The park is named after Leon Gorman, the grandson of company founder Leon Leonwood Bean. The company now has $1.5 billion in annual sales around the globe.

Gorman also was the company's president from 1967 to 2001 and still is chairman of Bean's board of directors. Bean formally gave the park to the town of Freeport July 4 in a dedication ceremony after the first phase of the park was completed.

That phase included trails with a series of rustic bridges over a stream that meanders through the park and a picnic pavilion.