‘LAST RIDE’ AT ROLLER RINK
Hundreds of Calgarians laced up their roller skates for the Last Ride event at Lloyd’s roller rink, which is closing Feb. 18 after 53 years. A Calgarian’s Facebook post inviting friends to a final skate quickly went public, sparking a celebration of the iconic venue.
Colin Branner was one of the former Lloyd’s roller rink regulars lacing up his skates after doors opened at the facility Wednesday evening.
Branner frequented the iconic Calgary rink starting in 1969 when he moved to the city from Edmonton.
“I wanted to get a recreation that I could keep my health while I worked,” he said.
Once he started roller skating competitively, which he did until about 1975, he “turned it around to working so I could roller skate.”
He even skated with the late owners of the rink, Flo and Lloyd Cooper. Following Flo’s death in 2016, the property has been sold and, according to Lloyd’s Recreation management, the profits will go to charity. The centre will remain open until Feb. 18, with the final public skate from 1 to 6 p.m.
Branner, who still comes by the rink two or three times a year, called the upcoming closure of Lloyd’s “terrible.”
“It’s a great loss to the city because it has kept literally thousands of kids out of trouble,” he said.
Others at the packed rink Wednesday night agreed. The building was filled with not just regulars getting in time in the centre’s final weeks, but dozens of people who took notice of a Facebook event and decided to make it their last skate at the beloved facility.
Tannus Betzler said she had planned to organize a private event and invite her friends for a final roller skate, but she decided to make the event public. The word quickly spread, with 186 people saying they planned to attend and 2,000 people signalling their interest.
“It’s busy!” she said Wednesday at the bustling roller rink.
Betzler said the response to her event is a signal of how much the facility means to Calgarians.
“I love it, and I’m so sad because this place is amazing,” she said. “It’s going to be sad.”
Ingrid Dallinga said the rink, which she started attending in 1976, means a lot to her family.
“This is an icon,” she said. “I’m really upset . . . I brought my daughter here and she learned how to skate here — she was, I think, three years old when she started coming here.”
She also called the loss of the rink sad, lamenting that “there are so few places for kids to go anymore.”
“This was a place you could come and have clean, wholesome fun,” she said.
Justine Talbot, one of the first in line when the doors opened for the public skate, said she, too, was disappointed when she heard of the venue’s imminent closure.
“It has a lot of memories for a lot of people,” she said.
Lloyd’s has been in business for 53 years.