roller skating

Some of the Skate 98 family was back together at the David M. McCarthy Memorial Ice Arena on Friday night for an 80 and 90s adult-only roller skate party.

It was perhaps most evident when the smash 1979 hit from Sister Sledge, "We Are Family," came on the sound system.

Just like old times, a group of six long-time skating friends formed a line and skated together -- as they did when they were all much younger -- around the rink.

"We're all older now," said Doug Palmer. "As much as we all want to skate to 'We are Family,' we can't do that whole song. We started doing our line during 'We Are Family' to kind of do that throwback to Skate 98, but these guys are like, 'Doug, you can take the front,' and I'm like, 'I'm on point Oh, God! So as soon as your legs start feeling it, you slow down there's somebody else right there behind you, so you ditch out and let somebody else take point."

Still, it was a fun night, all agreed.

The group included Mark Mcvay, wife Kelly Mcvay, Mark's brother Craig, along with Palmer, Alan Gilford, and Pat Gaudy.

It was the first time in a rink in 30 years for Gilford. Mark was wearing skates from 1977, while Kelly, her skates were from ninth grade, and Gaudy's skates he bought when he was 17.

The old adage that you never forget how to ride a bicycle must also apply to roller skating.  Even Gilford exuded a confidence moving around the rink, not as evident in some other skaters.

"The skate was all right," said Gilford, a former skate guard at Skate 98 and so is a bit older than the rest of the group at 71. "My legs are fine, but my ankles felt a little jittery."

They all agreed that the arrival of The McCarthy as a roller skate rink is a welcome development but said not all the music being played is appropriate for skating.  Some of it needs more of a dance beat, they said, a bit more Funk, perhaps.

"It can't just be any music from the era," Palmer said. "It's got to be skate music."

Palmer has been coming to the open skates on Friday nights since they started a few weeks ago just to "get the webs off."

"I didn't want to embarrass myself in front of these guys," he said.

They all have fond memories of Skate 98, a roller rink that was once on Route 98 heading toward Alexander.  They remember the all-night skates, the game room, the contests, hanging out with friends, and the skates guards -- during a skating break -- throwing out rolls of quarters on the floor and the mad scramble for the kids to pick them up.

"They all went right back into the games in the game room," Palmer recalled.

Gaudy said, "I met all my friends there, even met most of my girlfriends there." 

Which reminded Palmer of "make out corner."  

A place he had to avoid once his dad became a skate guard.

"Or my ears would get a lot longer," he said.

When Skate 98 closed after a fire, it was the end of an era in Genesee County and for some the end of roller skating for a while.

"When it went away, it kind of sucked," Palmer said. "Everybody had to go to Buffalo or Rochester to skate, then they didn't want to drive with their kids 45 minutes to go roller skating, so having a place that is local again, even with this here, I would love to have a place in Batavia again."

Meaning he would like to see a year-round, full-time roller skating venue.

Skating has always been a family affair in the Mcvay clan, Kelly said.

"It’s continued to be a family thing for us," Kelly said. "We go to Lockport and Tonwanda, and our kids come with us, and our grandkids now skate with the little walkers, so it’s nice to have this, even if it’s only to August."

For anyone who grew up in Genesee County, you may recall those fun weekend nights of pulling on a pair of roller skates and gliding around the floor of Skate 98 as a DJ blasted dance and rock tunes and the dimmed atmosphere was a great canvas for colored scrolling lights.

If you’re yearning for some of those fun nostalgic times — and decent exercise to boot — or looking to build some new memories, management at the McCarthy Ice Arena has brought back public roller and inline skating from 7 to 9 p.m. every Friday. 

And for only $5 a person, rink Manager Kati Murray says.

“We’re trying to get people in here to skate for a couple of hours,” she said to The Batavian Friday afternoon. “We do not have rentals, but we’re in the process of getting them, we might rent them out from a place. We have music, just like we do for the ice skating.”

The Batavian asked if the place does anything with lighting, and Murray said, “Funny you ask that.”

“We’re in the process of putting up lights that flash, we’re putting them up for next Friday,” she said. “We’ll have flashing lights and a black light, and we’re getting updated music.”

Skaters will get the entire floor to bop along to tunes, in between taking breaks for a snack from the concession stand. This is the second week of public skating, and Murray believes it will take some time for people to catch on that the rink is open for this activity.

There are also two nights of floor hockey: Tuesdays have five adult teams already signed up, and Wednesdays are offering pickup teams for kids 14 and under from 5 to 6:30 p.m. and one for adults 7 to 8:30 p.m. Those are just beginning, and anyone interested in joining can just show up at the designated time.

The cost for Wednesday’s teams is $10 a person, and goalies are free. For more information about any of the teams, email adam@mccarthyicearena.com.

There’s still time to dig out and dust off those rollerblades from the garage, and head out to the ice arena on Evans Street, Batavia. For more information, go to McCarthy Ice Arena. https://www.mccarthyicearena.com/ or call 585-250-4040.

Submitted photos of rollerskating at the David M. McCarthy Memorial Ice Arena in Batavia, top, and playing floor hockey, above.