Bloomington, Ill. (WMBD) — A roller rink with five decades of history.
“It’s been an exciting adventure,” said Tim Overholser.
After 50 years in the community, Sunday is the final curtain call for Skate ‘N’ Place rink in Bloomington.
But for owners Tim and Diantha Overholser, the rink symbolizes the beginning of their lives together.
“I was the owner of the business part of it 35 years ago,” said Tim. “I met my wife here in front of this counter; we’ve been married for 31 years.”
According to Dave Blunk, who founded the rink in 1973, this is the story for many.
He said there is a ton of history behind those walls.
“The people that have met here, got married, have kids, bringing the kids up, bringing their grandkids, there are all kinds of stories about this place; it’s been a wonderful place.”
But even with decades of beautiful memories with customers, the Overholsers said there have been hardships.
Diantha said disturbing developments with some led them to come to the difficult decision to close permanently.
“Disrespect, we ask them to do things… they flip us off,” she said. “They chest bump ya, cuss at us on a regular, call us everything that you could possibly think of.”
Despite everything they’ve endured of late, Tim said he will keep years of happy rink memories close to his heart.
“Too many to even list, but the best part is meeting my wife, and having all the grandkids that have followed from that marriage, and having all of them actually work and take part in this business today,” he says.
Saying goodbye to the rink on Sunday was also very emotional for customer Becky Hicks Hutchison, who grew up at the rink skating with her cousins.
She said she met her first boyfriend and experienced all her firsts at the rink.
“When I started a family I instantly always came back, like everything always just brought me back here,” said Hutchison. “We have a huge skate family… it’s gonna be huge adjustments in our life.”
The Overholsers said they’ll now be focusing on family.
A post on the rink’s Facebook page said the building will be converted into warehouse space for a major company.
