PORT ANGELES — Organizers of the Olympic Skate Village in downtown Port Angeles are putting out a plea for volunteers to help operate the seasonal roller skating rink for the last month of its inaugural summer run.
Volunteer duties include collecting admission fees, operating the village’s Snack Shack concession stand and overseeing skate rentals, as well as a rink overseer. In exchange for their time, volunteers are offered sessions on the rink for their own leisure.
The village, a summertime incarnation of the Port Angeles Winter Ice Village, is open daily with three three-hour sessions of skating in a little-used city parking lot at 121 W. Front St. Sessions run from noon to 3 p.m., 3:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. through Aug. 14.
The village is operated by the Port Angeles Chamber of Commerce.
Admission for all ages 3 and older is $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 must sign a liability waiver — either on-site or else online — prior to skating. The waiver form can be found at https://waiver.smartwaiver.com/w/2enjtr7hvn6dusfj2qtpo2/web/eb.
Numerous volunteer slots are available on a daily basis, said Leslie Robertson chamber of commerce events manager.
“We really need volunteers,” she said. “We are having hardly anybody sign up.”
When the skate village was envisioned, the plan was for volunteers to run virtually all daily operations, but the chamber has hired five rink managers, with at least two on duty at all times, Robertson said. Those managers have been able to step in wherever needed.
“They’re doing a phenomenal job and they make it go,” she said.
Rink manager Shanzi Cosgrove was on duty on Friday, shuffling between the admission gate and the Snack Shack. She said it was hectic, but noted she was up for the task.
“It’s kind of stressful,” she said. “Sometimes when you’re running back and forth from doing the tickets and then the snacks and you realize the line’s getting really long.
“But I’ve been doing a lot of jobs that have been fast-paced so I’m sort of prepared for it, but it would be very nice to get people down here volunteering.
“Three hours just hanging out and watching people skate. There’s worse things you could do.”
Robertson said the rink managers have been given artistic license to develop creative skating opportunities, including theme nights, disc jockeys, game nights and costume contests.
“I’ve been having a lot of fun,” Cosgrove said. “I’m here seven days a week and it’s kinda cool because they give me a lot of creative liberties.”
Attendance at the skate village has been fairly light through the third week of its inaugural season, Robertson said, which has helped with the case of thin staffing, but she added that crowds are slowly getting bigger.
“It’s outdoors. It’s so fun. It’s in the middle of downtown,” she said. “There are so many people who have a couple of hours to kill while they wait for the ferry.”
An online sign-up sheet for volunteers is available at https://www.signupgenius.com/go/70a094eafa82ca6ff2-olympic#.
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Photojournalist Keith Thorpe can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 59050, or at kthorpe@peninsuladailynews.com.
