While many people this week were thinking beach, as summer weather settled over the Island, at the Martha’s Vineyard Arena they were thinking ice.

Good ice is essential to good skating, and a good Zamboni machine is essential to good ice.

And after months of planning, wishing and fund-raising, the arena has a new Zamboni.

The machine that resurfaces the ice, made by the Zamboni family company, arrived at the arena on Tuesday morning after a journey from Paramount, Calif.

The summer skating season begins at the arena on July 17. And there was plenty of excitement this week when the Zamboni arrived, way ahead of schedule.

At a cost of $120,000, arena backers expected it would take several years to raise the money needed for the new machine. The previous one was about 15 years old and showing its age, but considering the cost of a new machine, everyone involved thought they would just have to be patient.

But all that changed thanks to a sizable donation last year from Robert Levine, who has already made substantial donations to the arena in the past.

Susan Wallo, a member of the arena board of directors, said the generous gift from Mr. Levine — the amount has not been disclosed — made it possible.

“He has been one of our biggest benefactors; he helped us put in locker rooms, and helped us break ground on the arena in the first place, so we didn’t ask him to help out this time. But when he heard we were trying to do this, he said he wanted to help. And the next thing he was telling us to go ahead and order the new machine . . . his generosity has been amazing,” she said.

As the new Zamboni arrived this week, Mrs. Wallo was beaming.

“It’s beautiful. It’s not every day you have a new Zamboni delivered. This is a great day for the arena,” she said.

Kurt Mundt, general manager for the arena, said the old machine was no longer effective. “It’s like an old car; things were starting to go, and it’s not like we can just go down to NAPA to buy new parts. And if that thing goes down, we are out of business. It has broken down before; each time it gets more difficult to fix,” he said.

The old Zamboni was sold over the Internet to an ice rink in Pennsylvania for $25,000.

Mr. Mundt too was enthusiastic about the new rig.

“It has improved electronics, and all the parts are stainless steel so they won’t rust. So yeah, I’m excited. Everyone loves the Zamboni . . . not sure why, but people love the thing,” he said.