ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, February 10, 1997 TAG: 9702100077
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CHRISTINA NUCKOLS STAFF WRITER
After Kirsten Allen saw Elmo clowning around on skates at a recent Roanoke Express hockey game, it was only a matter of time before the 2-year-old followed the fuzzy red creature onto the ice.
"I want to go ice skating," she piped Sunday afternoon as she sat in her mother's lap staring at the shiny blades on the bottom of her feet.
Helen Allan traveled to the Roanoke Civic Center from Moneta to bring her daughter and 4-year-old son, Nicholas, for their ice skating debut. She said she was just 11/2 herself when she donned her first pair of skates.
"Mom took me out on a pond in the back of our house in Wisconsin," she said. "I did pretty good ... and she fell. I hope this is not a repeat."
Nearby, 7-year-old Ethan Mott was taking his first wobbly steps toward the ice rink.
"Whoa! Dizzy, dizzy, dizzy," he squealed.
"There's no other place to go skating," his father, Joe, observed. "I've thought about it as a money-making scheme."
The civic center is, in fact, the only place offering public ice skating in the Roanoke Valley. Richard Day, a supervisor at the center, said he had sold all 300 available tickets by 1:15 p.m. Sunday, 15 minutes before the rink was scheduled to open.
"It doesn't take long," he said.
Skaters travel from as far away as Lynchburg and Clifton Forge, said Chris Powell, marketing coordinator.
"The weekends typically sell out, and we have to turn people away," she said.
The civic center began opening the rink to the public last winter. There are seven more days scheduled this year: February 15, 16 and 18 and March 5, 8, 18 and 29. Admission is $5, plus an extra $2 to rent a pair of skates. Groups of 10 or more get a $2 discount off the price of admission.
"It's been real popular with groups: church groups, parks and rec groups, even neighborhood groups," Powell said.
The rink was filled Sunday with hundreds of people skating to the sounds of "Achy Breaky Heart" and "The Macarena," both the original and the country version. An announcer wished a happy birthday to what seemed to be about a fourth of the skating population.
Most skaters wore jeans and sweat shirts to fight the chill, but there were a few short sleeves mixed in the crowd and one brave soul in shorts.
Tiffany Byrd of Salem was with a cluster of teen-agers notable for their all-black attire. She explained that they were one of the groups celebrating a birthday.
Thomas Rothe is the skate guard for the events, which means he nabs the roughnecks and breaks up any chains that grow to more than three people long. A lot of the skaters aren't skilled enough to cause much trouble, though. On any given day, Roth estimated, about a third of the people on the ice are beginners.
Many are parents teaching their children a favorite pastime from their own childhood, like Pam Walsh of Martinsville, who was carefully lacing daughter Shannon's skates.
"Ryan says it's exactly like Rollerblading," said Shannon, 11, who rolled her eyes when asked if she trusted her 13-year-old brother's judgement.
"We've been trying to find a place to skate," Pam Walsh said. "My kids have never been skating before, and I grew up ice skating. I just think it's something they ought to do."
LENGTH: Medium: 67 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: ERIC BRADY STAFF. Mike Harman (left) skates with hisby CNBson, Matthew, and friend Rachel Deurlein on Sunday. color.