The Palace roller rink still on a roll
By CHUCK BALLARO
When The Palace roller skating rink opened, roller skating was all the rage with movies like “Xanadu” making people lace up their skates and head for the nearest roller disco.
It isn’t quite like that anymore – racing “quads” and blades are now more popular than the skates many adults grew up with.
But The Palace, at 1490 Brown Road on the corner of U.S. 41, still brings in great crowds on the weekend and is always a hot spot for birthday parties.
Sandi Dold, owner of the Palace, opened the place in 1981 with her husband, who was a professional figure skater.
“We gave it some thought and it was the time where skating was big with the disco era, and we started looking for property and built the rink,” Dold said.
While many things have come and gone, The Palace has stayed around through fads and economic meltdowns, thanks to the fact it has always revolved around family.
“It’s a family oriented business. Being the original owner I’m still here because I love kids. I think people see that because we’re on our fourth generation of skaters,” Dold said. “We have great-grandparents, grandparents, parents and their children. It’s known we’re for families.”
It has also has no down months “off seaosn” as most of their customers are residents.
The Palace boasts of having the largest real maple wood rink floor in all of Southwest Florida, the same material used by roller derby skaters, providing the perfect balance of firmness and bounce that keeps skaters on their feet.
Now, the littlest skaters have some help with the new skatemates, which look like little walkers and only came out a few years ago. Dold said she only keeps a few of them and limits them to the center to keep them away from the other skaters, and doesn’t allow them at all on real busy nights.
The rink is open Friday and Saturday evening from 7:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday evening (Old-Skool night) from 6:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. and on Saturday and Sunday afternoons from 1:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. It costs $7 for admission and $4 for skate rental.
That doesn’t mean the rink is a ghost town the rest of the week. On the first and third Monday of every month there’s a Christian skate where they play the top Christian hits. It’s $7 with free skate rental.
There are also great opportunities for fund-raising events during the week, as well as birthday parties. Dold said the rink is typically open twice during the week.
There is also a snack bar and a pro shop where the best skaters go for skates, blades and other accessories. You can even get skate lessons starting in January.
For more information, call 656-2000 or go to palacerollerrink.com.