Stars on Ice tour brings Olympic champions, hometown skater to Wenatchee

Town Toyota Center will trade slap shots for sequins Friday as the 2026 Stars on Ice tour glides into Wenatchee with Olympic champions, world titleholders and, perhaps most importantly for local fans, a hometown skater who first learned to skate on the same rink beneath the arena lights.

"This is a really big, important show," said Katie Polson, premium services manager at Town Toyota Center. "How often do you get the Olympic gold team in Wenatchee?"

The answer, according to arena staff: never quite like this.

Headlining the tour is Alysa Liu, the reigning world champion whose comeback culminated in the first U.S. women's Olympic gold medal since 2002. She will be joined by ice dance powerhouses Madison Chock and Evan Bates - reigning world champions and Olympic medalists - along with Ilia Malinin, the "Quad God" whose jumps have turned social media clips into physics demonstrations.

Additional cast members include Amber Glenn, Jason Brown, Isabeau Levito, Andrew Torgashev, pairs team Ellie Kam and Danny O'Shea, and ice dancers Christina Carreira and Anthony Ponomarenko.

But for Wenatchee, one name in the lineup lands a little closer to home.

Guest skater Liam Kapeikis grew up on the Town Toyota Center ice. His parents coached with the Wenatchee Figure Skating Club, and arena marketing director Greg McEwen said local skating fans have watched his career unfold since childhood.

"He's been on this ice since he was a baby," McEwen said. "His parents were both coaches for the Wenatchee Figure Skating Club."

Polson said Kapeikis and Malinin were once rivals chasing Olympic spots together.

"To be able to see them on the show together, it's going to be awesome," Polson said. "I'm so excited."

Though the show carries the names and medals of Olympic competition, McEwen said Stars on Ice differs from the tension of a scored program.

"This is more of a show," he said. "It's not so much competition-type skating. This is going to be more theatrical."

The production returns to Wenatchee for the first time since 2017. McEwen said previous Stars on Ice tours stopped in town in 2012 and 2017, but this marks the first time the arena has hosted the tour featuring a U.S. Olympic gold medal-winning team fresh off the games.

The timing mattered.

Because of Olympic marketing restrictions, Town Toyota Center staff had to remain largely quiet during the Winter Games, unable to promote the show while skaters competed internationally.

"As soon as they started giving us all the things to start marketing again, it hit the ground running," Polson said.

The response has been swift. Arena officials expect the show to sell out - a rarity for the venue.

"We will be sold out," McEwen said. "Not often" does that happen, he added, noting comedian Jeff Dunham as one of the few comparable sellouts in recent years.

For Town Toyota Center, the event also reflects the balancing act of operating a smaller-market arena between Seattle and Spokane.

"We definitely get a variety," Polson said. "Our hardest battle is we're not Spokane Arena, so we don't have a million people to pull from."

Instead, the venue relies on diversity: concerts, rodeos, comedy, graduations, hockey, theatrical productions and touring attractions all sharing space beneath one roof.

"We kind of like to say we're an empty shell," McEwen said. "Bottom line is, we're here for the community to provide entertainment for the community."

Tickets for Stars on Ice start at $45, with limited on-ice seating available. A special "Stargazer" pre-show experience gives fans access to warmups and behind-the-scenes viewing before the main performance.

Arena officials also urged fans to buy directly through official ticket outlets to avoid inflated resale prices.

"We always encourage people to make sure they're at TownToyotaCenter.com," Polson said. "If they're looking at ticket prices over $100, they are not on our website."

The May 22 performance begins at 7 p.m. Tickets and additional information are available through Town Toyota Center and Stars on Ice.

And once the ice shavings settle, the arena's calendar will not stay quiet for long. Upcoming Town Toyota Center events, including the July 23 Jake Owen concert and other performances, can be found on the venue's official event calendar at towntoyotacenter.com/events-tickets/event-calendar.

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This story was originally published May 18, 2026 at 8:38 PM.