Roller skating experiencing renewed popularity
It’s a wet Friday night and at the Joan Harris Cruise Pavilion, the DJ is playing KC & The Sunshine Band’s That’s the Way (I like It).
As the room darkens, lights begin flashing and people start slowly roller skating around the concrete floor of the main room.
If you’re patient enough, you’ll see skaters who effortlessly pull off the trickiest gravity-defying moves while gliding around the room – some even stooping mid-glide to pick up pebbles so lessexperienced skaters don’t take a tumble. For a moment you’re transported back to the 1980s when Sydney had its own roller rink.
Roger Best remembers it well. “It was Saints first in 1980 and a few years later we changed over to Wheelies, and from then on we made history for everybody,” said Best, who worked there between 1980 and 1986.
To this day, he loves roller skating and heads out every time there is a session.
“I’ve seen a lot of everything over the years that concerns roller skating.”
Ali Macdougall remembers being at Wheelies all the time when she was growing up. She also took part in roller derby and then started training younger skaters. She’s a member of the Sydney Roller Skating Club, which runs the Cape Breton Junior Roller Derby League on Sundays. The group now wants to bring roller skating back to Cape Breton.
“We’d rent a venue once a month to have a fun skate and invite some friends and it kind of grew,” she said. “The first couple of times, I think we had 30 the first night. Then it jumped to 50 and then 70 – it’s growing.”
In fact, it’s growing so much they have already outgrown their most recent venue. The rollerskating nights will move to another venue in mid-may although organizers won’t say where until final details have been worked out. For now, the sessions will continue at the Joan Harris Cruise Pavilion, from 8 to 10 p.m. on Friday nights. If you don’t have skates, rentals are $5 a pair. But call early — the rental pairs are snapped up quickly.
Pam Mcmahon of Dominion and her friend Tina Newton of Sydney have been roller skating since the Wheelies days and even own their own wheels; a leopard print pair for Mcmahon and a purple suede pair for Newton.
“When they started it again, we had to come back,” said McMahon. “The exercise, the speed, we’re reliving our youth.”
“I’ve always loved roller-skating,” said Newton. “It’s exercise and there’s great people and it’s fun.”
Nicole Haddad, another roller derby skater, is another one of the organizers of the Friday night session. She’s optimistic the sport will continue to grow in this area.
“We hope to continue it and succeed and buy more skates,” said Haddad.
“People love roller skating – Sydney loves roller skating.”