Roller skating's new home

The Rollaway skating rink in Lewiston sits empty on the corner of 12th and Idaho Street, the light blue paint of its exterior slowly fading in the heat of the June sun.

For nearly a year, the building has been devoid of the rattling of plastic wheels on hardwood and the upbeat tunes which used to define the summer months for children in the valley.

Even though the business is closed, its impact can still be felt in an unexpected location - the LC Ice Arena.

This spring, the Lewis-Clark Amateur Hockey Association voted to purchase leftover equipment from Rollaway to help establish a summer skating rink at the arena's North Lewiston location.

It's a strategy which has served the business well since its inception in 2004 - keep maintenance costs low in the summer by melting down the ice and finding an alternative use for the facility. But with the recent equipment purchase from Rollaway, the LC Ice Arena can now expand its operations to service a greater number of customers.

During the summer months, the arena is open for roller skating on Fridays from 7 to 10 p.m. and Saturdays from 1 to 5 p.m. Admission is $4 and skate rentals are $3.

"Here's an opportunity to better serve our valley, to better serve our kids and to better serve each other," said Jeremiah Coburn, a board member with the Lewis-Clark Amateur Hockey Association. "... I know that hockey and roller skating don't really seem to go together, but roller skating helps us keep the doors open, and that's been a bit of a challenge for us the last couple of years."

The recent purchase includes necessary equipment for the summer transition, including cables, storage racks and several hundred pairs of skates. But Coburn is most excited about the audio equipment procured through the deal, which is a significant upgrade from the arena's previous system.

"We were able to play music for ice skating and things like that, but it was no competition to the sound system that Rollaway had," Coburn said. "Now, once we get that in, we'll have the ability to draw a lot more people with our music - that's a big thing for roller skating."

The deal between the roller rink and the ice arena came into place several months ago through the effort of Brian Thomas, then president-elect of the Lewis-Clark Amateur Hockey Association. After being approached by Rollaway owner Thomas Williams, the two found a way to work out a beneficial arrangement for both parties.

"Their building was going to be vacated for the future tenant and he basically needed to get everything out as quick as possible," Coburn said. "Brian was able to strike a fair deal with him about skates, the sound system, shelves and a few other odds and ends."

While the summer venture is necessary to pay utility bills for the organization, the LC Ice Arena also hopes the enterprise will help expose more community members to the various hockey programs available at the facility during the winter months.

"Lewiston is really a hockey town, it just doesn't know it yet," Coburn said. "Not enough people know about our rink, not enough people know about the quality of hockey. ... We have the desire to let everybody in the valley know this is a good and safe place to come and skate."

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Grissom can be reached at jgrissom@lmtribune.com or on Twitter @JoshuaGNews.