Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Mount Dora roller skating rink to close its doors after nearly 50 years

Greetings from Florida

See photos from classic Florida postcards.

This is a local story but it effects us all. Almost every day I pass this Roller Rink and it always reminds me of my young days when we went skating on the weekends. Thenh one day we found out the Rink was going to be demolished because the Government was building a highway ritht through it. The highway was the infamous 'Long Island Expressway', the world's longest parking lot. It's called that because of the amount of traffic and the slowness of the trucks and cars traveling on it. We were very sad to see our Roller Rink close down and I'm sure a lot of young people here in Central Florida, will be sad too!
MOUNT DORA — It's Friday night and roller skaters roll round and round counterclockwise under a shiny disco ball. The flashing lights color their faces as the sound system plays dance music, mostly from the 1980s and '90s.

Behind a counter, Roll-Air Skating Center owners Terry and Mike Ganus hand out roller skates, while their daughter, Hope, 22, counts money at a cash register. It's almost the same scene as it was nearly 50 years ago. But it's coming to an end.

Roll-Air, a teenage hangout and site of countless birthday parties and family nights out since 1961, is closing Friday. The Lake County establishment is under foreclosure proceedings, a victim of the miserable economy and a whirlwind of new technological advancements that provide today's teenagers with so many other entertainment options.

Like roller-rinks across Central Florida and the United States, owners face a constant challenge of updating and renovating their facilities to continue luring in customers in the face of competition from everything from video games and Facebook's Farmville to movies and malls.

Posted via email from deaconjohn's posterous

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