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Hey Gary!
Like most kids, my favorite time of year when I was growing up was the summertime because there were endless things to do.
During my early elementary school years, my charter school hosted a summer camp, and nearly every day we were doing something different. There were summer days in the park that ended with us rolling down the hills in races against classmates. We took trips to local water parks. And we were there enjoying the circus when it stopped by.
But some of my best memories were made at United Skates of America, a local skating rink that most people went to for school trips or birthday parties. They had an arcade, laser tag arena, snack stand, and a rewards shop that rivaled Toys R Us in my young mind.
I remember asking my mom for money as soon as I handed her the permission slip because I knew I would need snacks to fuel me after skating until I fell down, or tokens to hopefully get one of the glowing accessories to wear while on the wooden rink.
Growing up in the Y2K era, the music was unmatched for the skating rink, and I can still feel the pulse of the speakers as we’d pass them with each go around the rink. Ne-Yo, Beyoncé, Rihanna, and some of the best music responsible for why most people’s knees don’t go work as well as they used to.
Doing the cha-cha slide while on skates was a regular occurence whenever we went, and I remember coming home a little sore and worrying my parents but buzzing with excitement for my next time going.
I felt those memories when I sat with the members of the Gary Arts Council and community as they wrapped up their activation of the Jackson Mural on Broadway with a pop-up skating rink.
“Skating is something that we can do together: across cultures, ages, intergenerationally, it's active, and it’s something that family members can do together,” said McKenya Dilworth-Smith, chair of the Gary Arts Council.
Thanks to a grant from the Indiana Arts Commission, they were able to provide free skating under the mural for all ages from Juneteenth to July 10th. This experience allowed them to bring another arts experience to the youth and families around town and pay homage to Screamin Wheelz, an old skating staple in the Gary community.
“It was a rite of passage,” Dilworth-Smith said.
Bringing in hundreds of guests over a short period, the council hopes to offer more experiences like this to Gary and even hopes for a day when a local skating rink will return.
As I watched kids spin and do splits to the music of the Jacksons, I, too, am excited to see what comes to fruition for the local arts community.
Read about how the pop-up skating rink in my latest article.
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