Roller Skating

We have an ice arena in my city, but no roller rink.

When I was a kid, we skated all the time and loved it.

Not only do we have rinks, but we have a really active roller derby as well as a Jr. derby league. A friend and her daughter both do derby, so we have gone to watch and skate with them. We've also done skating lessons and a lot of kids do parties at both the roller and ice rinks. And the schools hand out free passes to the local rink constantly - so if you own your own skates, you can go for free quite frequently. We love it.

ETA: And I'm 44 and NOT too old to fall. I still skate when I go (although not right now - broken leg NOT from skating!)

We have one that has been open since before I was born. I took classes there and was on the skating team! All our school events were there. I do not know if they are busy. They stay open year after year, so I guess they are busy enough!!

Back in the 80's we had at least five big roller rinks in our city. The last big one closed down about eight years ago. I think part of the problem was that they had to charge such high admission prices, because the overhead for a roller rink is quite high. You need a pretty large building to have a decent sized rink, and the heating and cooling was very expensive. A small one opened up in an old warehouse, but it's not in very nice area and it is kind of seedy. The admission prices are low, because it is a low income area, so it is busy and provides entertainment for kids who need it. There is a grass roots movement to open one in my area in a city owned ice rink that is slated to close. I hope it happens, because I also enjoy roller skating.

Our 2 roller rinks are pretty busy. They are open 1-4 and I think 6-10, both times are busy. There are a lot of birthday parties at the rink, in fact my daughter had her bday party there last year and she had 25 kids show. We also have an annual school party there which is a big hit. They also have skating for homeschoolers on wednesday and fitness for adults a couple days a week during school hours.

I don't know of one locally in South Orange County, California. I'm 38 and too old to risk falling. ;)

We had 2 in our town growing up (pop. 40,000), one was sold and turned into a church when I was in elementary school, but the other is still there. My son is 2 and hasn't had a reason to go yet, but I have heard from other moms that it is pretty run down and hasn't changed much in the last 20 years. We went to field trips there every year in grade school, and it was the place to be on Friday nights!

I have really fond memories of roller skating as a kid in the 80's. We never went to a rink though, just skated in our yard and driveway and in the neighborhood. My sisters and cousin found our childhood dog by skating through the neighborhood, she was a lost mutt and she became our dog for the next 10+ years.
I digress. In the 90's it was suddenly all about roller blades. Same thing though-roller bladed around town in Jr high, then pretty much roller bladed off the freshman 15 after my first year of college.
Anyway I think I went to a roller rink only 2 times in my life. I keep waiting for skates (or blades) to become all the rage again!

On our side of town, we have one. The same one that my husband and I went to when we were kids. It is busy on the weekends.

I am in my early 50's and some of our old classmates still meet there to skate..

This place is popular for birthday patties..all ages..I agree it is a shame they are not as popular as they used to be.. Skate boarding parks and bike parks are really popular now..but seems like a lot of older people..

Ours is open on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. They open in the evening with 2 options. A 2 hour slot and the 4 hour slot. You bring or rent your skates.

On Saturday they have all 3 birthday rooms full every week. They have tons of kids every Saturday and do 4 hour slots.

the one in our town just closed last year, the school used to offer a skating party once a month which was nice for the kids. forgive me because i know this doesn't sound very good but i hesitated to take my kids on the weeekends or anything because i was worried about older kids running mine down or hanging out doing teen stuff and my kids weren't old enough for that. I would have strapped on some skates myself if they had had an old fogey night.

We have one near us. My daughter use to go in the mornings with her friends and even had a party there.. Never really saw it real busy. Now she she doesnt really go cause she feels she is to old for it.

My oldest daughter and I used to go every Saturday. Unfortunately they closed a few years ago. So sad. My youngest daughter who is 10 has never skated. Ugh!
(We rollerbladed. You could rent roller skates if you wanted though.).

We have a couple of rinks nearby, and I think there may be others. There seem to be a lot of cars in the parking lots, especially on weekends, but I couldn't tell you how their business is going. Roller-skating parties are popular here, especially for elementary groups.

When I was a kid ("Oh, no, ancient history!") we roller-skated all over the neighborhood. I never heard of an indoor rink until I was an adult. Anybody remember skate keys?

You're right - roller skating is good exercise and lots of fun. It's not a *televised* sport (at least not around here), so that may hold it back in general popularity.