Ellport Roller Rink
Ellport Roller Rink
As a kid in Ellwood City, you always looked forward to the Tuesday night it was your elementary school’s night at Ellport Roller Rink. You would get there twenty minutes early and pack as many kids into the four foot by four foot waiting room just counting down the seconds until the little block of wood in the window was removed so you could pay your dollar and get into the door. You would funnel four or five kids at a time through the door as they were kicking their shoes off but not forgetting to get their number written with a sharpie onto their hands. With shoes in hand, running to the skate window to exchange your shoes with a pair of skates so you could be one of the first kids onto the rink and not miss a minute of skating fun.
Ellport Roller Rink fun
Once everyone was inside and had their skates on, it was time to line-up for the LIMBO. Each time, it was the same three little girls that would be the last ones in while all the other kids were cheering them on or busy playing the arcade games during the break. As soon as the last little girl bumped the pole off the stands, it was like a flood gate opening and the kids were back onto the rink in a flash. Occasionally you would get yelled at over the microphone for racing and of course the loud bangs from running into the fire exits. Eventually as you would skate around the rink singing along at the top of your lungs to YMCA, showing off a little, you ended up on your backside at least once. The trick to falling was to bring your hands in as fast as possible because your friend right behind you was going to run them over if you didn’t.
Ellport Roller Rink opened 1971
After a couple of minutes, the kids were called back off of the rink to spin the wheel. Tim would spin the big wheel and as that wheel started slowing down, you would look at your swollen hand (from getting run over) to the number written in marker, like the prize was millions of dollars. Then when the disappointment that you didn’t win the candy bar this time subsided, it was back to skating. A little hokey pokey, a backwards skate, and then the announcement you have been waiting for all night. “Couples Only!” All the guys quickly turn to find a girl to hold hands with, but alas, all the girls are already on the rink skating with their girlfriends as most of the guys sit on the benches waiting for the next skating party.
Please share your memories of Ellport Roller Rink by clicking on the “comments” link below or email us.
I was a skate boy at Rink from 1955 thru 1958 working every nite and twice on Saturdays. I have many great memories of those years. Every nite was a great time.
Remember going to the skating rink a lot, had a lot of great Sat afternoons or evenings there.
I remember skating there in the mid-fifties, trying to impress a certain young lady, and the ballbearings gave way on my skates. Bad time to get a “flat tire.”
I remember taking the roller rink bus from the North Side. The bus ride was almost as much fun as skating. That is where I learned the song “A Hundred Bottles of Beer”. The bus driver must have had the patience of a saint. That was in the mid to late 50′s. My husband and I returned many years later for a skating birthday party for my niece. All of those memories came rushing back.
I was just reminded that the song I learned on the bus was called “99 Bottles of Beer in the Wall”. Glad I have friends with good memories! I stand corrected.