Sadie Whitely laced up her skates while sitting at a bench in Believe Plaza. In fact, she was the first person at the rink when it opened to the public. She’d just gotten off work at the Burning Man office across the street. She plans to take full advantage of the rink by skating three to four times a week.
“It's like, the best thing I can do on my own or with people. That's my favorite part about it,” Whitely said.
This is the third year Rollin Reno has set up a rink downtown. But this year instead of a one day event, it’s going to be in place through August.
Neoma Jardon, executive director of the Reno downtown partnership, said roller skating is in high demand.
“We had 700 people that showed up to our one day event last year, so we wanted to accommodate more people more often,” Jardon said.
Last year, the event took place at Locomotion Plaza, located underneath the Reno Arch. More than 80 percent of people brought their own skates.
If you bring your own skates you can use the rink for free. If you don’t have skates, you can rent them for five dollars and kids under the age of 12 can rent them for free.
About an hour after it opened, about half a dozen people were rolling around the rink. Several were excited to have an affordable outdoor skate rink. Elizabeth Cadigan learned to skate during the pandemic. She joined Sierra regional new skater program and hasn’t stopped since.
“I'm a teacher with the district, and I have been hyping that up with my students. A lot of them have skates of their own, and so it's very affordable and accessible,” Cadigan said.
However, not everyone was thrilled about the rink. John Good, who’s managed multiple skating rinks, said the music needs to improve.
“It depends on your music. It's all about the music. If you can't play good music, you're not going to get nobody and do anything,” Good said.
The City of Reno plans to have themed nights and encourage people to come in costumes. Jardon said those themes include 80s and western nights. Official themes will be posted on the Rollin Reno Website.
The grand opening will be Saturday, June 14, beginning at 10 a.m. and includes live music, performers, and food trucks.
