PORT ANGELES — Time to oil up those wheels because roller skating is about to return to Port Angeles after a five year absence.
The Olympic Skate Village, a summertime incarnation of the Port Angeles Winter Ice Village, will open Friday for an eight-week run in a little-used city parking lot at 121 W. Front St.
It will be the first dedicated roller skating rink in Port Angeles — and on the North Olympic Peninsula — since the former Olympic Skate Center closed its doors in December 2017 and was later demolished.
The village, operated by the Port Angeles Chamber of Commerce, will offer three three-hour skate sessions per day through Aug. 14. Sessions will run from noon to 3 p.m., 3:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. to 10 p.m.
Admission for all ages 3 and up will be $10 per session or $8 per session if people bring their own skates. Minimum age to be on the rink is 3 years old.
Participants much sign a liability waiver — either on-site or else online — prior to hitting the boards. The waiver form can be found at https://waiver.smartwaiver.com/w/2enjtr7hvn6dusfj2qtpo2/web/eb/.
Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Marc Abshire said the success of the Winter Ice Village, which completed its fifth season last January, prompted his organization to try a summer version.
“We found quite a bit of success with the ice skating rink in the community,” he said. “There were a lot of people asking us, ‘What about doing a (summer) roller skating rink?’ We kind of ignored the idea for awhile because we were still getting ice skating to work.
“But it sunk in and we decided last winter that we would take a look at doing a roller skating rink.”
While the chamber owns the events tent, rink side boards and ancillary buildings, as well as ice skates and skating aids for winter, the specialized roller skating surface will be rented from California-based Ice America — the same company that provides ice-making equipment for the ice village. Ice America also will provide the roller skates this season.
Steve Hargis, the village’s de facto construction supervisor and member of the chamber’s board of directors, said the site would generally resemble the winter ice village, but with a twist.
“The biggest thing is that we’ve switched (the rink) around 180 degrees,” he said. “We used to have all the skaters put on their skates on the north end, they’ll now put on their roller skates on the south end.”
The switch was a concession to gravity and to the topography of the location, Hargis said.
“We did that because it’s really hard to roller skate up a hill,” he said. “The ice skaters can climb a ramp to get to the rink. The roller skaters would have to roll up that, so this alleviates that.”
The chamber arranged a special purchase of about 350 sheets of treated plywood from Hartnagel Building Supply to cover the sand base of the rink, Hargis said. A floating rink surface will be installed on top of that and the lace-up area for skaters will be covered with plywood and artificial turf to protect skate wheels.
Like the winter ice village, there is a standing call for volunteers to help operate concessions, the admission booth, skate rentals and for rink safety supervisor spots. In exchange for their efforts, those volunteering will receive transferable skate time.
Leslie Robertson, events manager for the chamber, said volunteers will be integral to the operation of the rink.
“To do it affordably and to be able to charge the prices where everyone will be able to do it, we have to have volunteers,” she said. “Without volunteers, we just wouldn’t be able to do it the way that we want to do it.”
An online sign-up sheet is available at https://www.signupgenius.com/go/70a094eafa82ca6ff2-olympic#/.
Robertson said that volunteer slots are currently available only through June. By then, organizers should be able to assess skater participation and adjust schedules accordingly.
“We’re going to test the waters the first month to see how it goes,” she said.
Abshire said he would be happy to see a break-even inaugural season at the gate, noting that the real goal of the Olympic Skate Village, much like its winter counterpart, is to give the community a fun activity while drawing people downtown — something that is always welcome to merchants.
And if it does come out ahead, then it becomes an economic driver all its own, he added.
“It’s not really a money-making enterprise. It’s more of a community asset that we try to provide,” Abshire said. “We’re pretty excited about it. I think it’s going to work.”
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Photojournalist Keith Thorpe can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 59050, or at kthorpe@peninsuladailynews.com.
