Students establish roller-skating
nights
By Kyle Boggs
Staff Writer
Two sophomores in the Schools of Engineering used
to sit around on Thursday nights.
They had finished their homework and were bored
with the party scene. Neither was old enough to go to area bars.
So David Wilkins and Michael Parker took the next
logical step; they turned to roller-skating.
The two were friends in Indianapolis where they
grew up and spent many weekends at a local skating rink. But this was
not your ordinary circular skate-around; it was a place to dance, cut
loose and have fun with friends.
Wilkins and Parker said they missed this weekly
skate party and decided to do something about it.
The two, along with some other friends, named themselves
Blackout Productions and marched to the Lafayette skating rink, Great
Skates Family Fun Center, and talked to the manager.
"David and I were on the same page," said Scott
Lehr, owner of the skating rink. "We (at the rink) were looking for
different ideas that would appeal to college-aged students. That’s
about the time David approached me with this idea."
Although Thursday will be the first Skate Night
of the semester, it will not be the first skate night ever. Wilkins
and Parker hosted similar events last semester and sometimes had a turnout
of around 200 people.
The skating rink is already popular among high
school students, according to Lehr, and is sometimes rented for fraternity
and sorority parties. "We wanted it (Skate Night) to be a bit more of
a liberated atmosphere than the usual crowd," said Lehr.
They worked out a contract and arranged to have
a weekly skate party every Thursday night, hoping to appeal to an older
crowd. They decided the night would include skating, dancing, prizes
and meeting people to the beat of hip-hop and rap albums spun by a DJ
from United Sounds.
"This provides college students with something
fun to do and high school kids, too," said Parker.
Wilkins and Parker encourage students to "come
get your roll on" for $4 from 9 p.m. to midnight Thursday. The
skate parties will be every Thursday thereafter. Skate rental is not
included in the cover charge.
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