The Skating Rink
We go through the doors into the
Skating Rink and see a huge room. It is almost 1/2 the
full length of the Hall and it spans the entire building
from front to back. On the right side, there is a
counter where you go and rent your skates. After you get
your skates you go over to the benches to the left of
the entrance door to put them on.
Most of the big room is the open skating area. There are
a few padded columns down the center of the room.
Skaters go in a big counter clockwise circle around the
floor. We head to the skating area after we get our
skates on. Where on the floor you go, depends on how
good a skater you are. Slower beginners go around on the
outside so they can hold on to the wall and try not to
fall. Many of the older teenagers and adults were
skilled skaters. They went very fast around the middle
of the Rink, sometimes skating forwards and sometimes
backwards.
The Rink was not air conditioned and was usually hot,
even in the wintertime. There are big windows on three
sides of the room and these windows were usually opened
all the way for cooling ventilation. Each window was
covered with a heavy wire screen to keep the skaters
from falling out or from hitting the glass on the rare
occasions when the windows were closed.
There was almost always loud music playing at the
Skating Rink. I don’t remember if there was a juke box
or if it was a PA system. Rock and Roll was just
becoming popular in the late 1940’s and early 1950’s and
it was what was often played at the Rink. The songs were
often more risqué than the songs heard on the local
radio stations. Also, since many of the leaders of the
Rock and Roll world were black, many of their songs were
played for the skaters. Music from black musicians and
singers, particularly Rock and Roll, was not often
played on the local radio stations.
Going to the Skating Rink was lots of fun. The Rink was
a destination in itself. It was not something you did
for a half hour or so. Skating sessions were usually for
several hours. I remember getting many blisters from
overdoing it and skating too long.
The Skating Rink was started sometimes around 1950. I am
not sure when it closed and I do not remember the last
time I went there. Before this big room became the
Skating Rink it was used for awhile as a bowling alley.
I’m not sure how long the bowling alley lasted but
I don’t think this venture was too successful.
This web site has
been started as a public service to share the story of
Pacolet.