The music and lights are off at Jellybeans. But you could own a piece of skating rink.
They lined up 100 deep, waiting to carry out more than 700 pairs of roller skates, Foosball tables, pinball games — even the disco balls.
After 25 years, Jellybeans — the roller rink that launched a thousand wheels — has cut the lights and cleared the floor, a victim of pandemic slowdown.
Owner Bill Farley opened his doors and let the fans file through Wednesday afternoon, picking out hot dog bun steamers, floor sweepers and rainbow-colored ceiling fans to buy.
Next week, as the inventory dwindles, he’ll let people take up the floor. As he spoke, a truck arrived to carry an Iceball machine to the Cardinal Gibbons Youth Center in Selma.
An attraction for all ages
“We wanted to get the skates out in the community, because so many in the community supported us,” Farley said, adding that Jellybeans is selling its inline skates starting at $40.
Every Friday, middle schoolers by the hundreds circled the floor, holding hands for the first time. Way-back Wednesdays were reserved for old-time fancy skaters who didn’t suffer youth gladly.
For years, Burt DeZarn occupied the center rink on Saturdays, where at age 76 his moves rivaled those of breakdancers.
Mother and daughter employees
Any given lesson averaged 100 students, taught by Joy Parks for 21 years.
“My children all learned to skate here,” she said. “This is home. We live right over the bridge. I can walk to work. It got so expensive for my kids to skate whenever they wanted, every Friday, Saturday and Sunday, so when Bill offered me a job teaching and said your kids skate free, I said, “Sign me up.”
For the past 15 years, her daughter, Elizabeth has managed the rink, skating better than her mother.
“It’s just heart-breaking,” she said of the closing. “It’s not just about the skating. It’s the whole community.”
As she spoke, a woman passed with a disco ball in a shopping cart, bound for where the lights still flash on Fridays.
This story was originally published February 10, 2021 at 6:14 PM.