November 13, 2024
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Northwest Herald readers share their memories of Just For Fun Roller Rink in McHenry

First kisses, first skates and dances with Dick Biondi

By Northwest Herald staff report
Angelo Grady helps his fiancée, Tiffany Glatt, keep her balance as they skate Friday, July 24, 2020, during a date at the Just For Fun Roller Rink in McHenry. The roller rink that was built in the early 1920s will be closing in September. The couple, who live near the rink, had wanted to come the rink to skate before the COVID-19 pandemic started, but when they found out the rink was closing the made a point to come skate.

Angelo Grady helps his fiancée, Tiffany Glatt, keep her balance as they skate Friday, July 24, 2020, during a date at the Just For Fun Roller Rink in McHenry. The roller rink that was built in the early 1920s closed in September and burned down overnight Thursday into Friday. The couple, who live near the rink, had wanted to come the rink to skate before the COVID-19 pandemic started, but when they found out the rink was closing the made a point to come skate.

The memories residents of McHenry and beyond had of the Just For Fun Roller Rink in McHenry poured in Friday after the Front Street building collapsed as a result of a fire Thursday night.

The fire is considered “suspicious” and is under investigation, the McHenry Township Fire Protection District said in a news release.

The building at 914 N. Front St. opened as a dance hall in the 1920s before later being converted into a roller rink. Lisa Duncan purchased the business in 2001, vowing to the building owner that 100% of its earnings would go toward the aging structure’s upkeep, and an effort by the community and local businesses in 2015 seemed to have saved the rink.

But the financial hit from the COVID-19 pandemic proved too great, and the rink closed permanently in mid-September.

We asked readers to share their memories of the rink. We have included them below, edited for grammar and clarity.

  • Bailie Blum: “Spending every Tuesday, Friday and Saturday there from age 12 to 20. It was my second home 💜”
  • Jessica Boelter Erickson: “I’m 46. My parents met there and were skate guards in the early ’70s. I was on skates there before I could walk. My kids, from 22 to 29, grew up there, weekends and holidays to lock-ins and birthdays. How very sad.”
  • Tiffani Amber: “Literally spending five days a week there having pure happiness for just a few hours. Us rink kids will always call Just For Fun our home away from home.”
  • Kathy Barrows: “Got my first pair of skates in ’57, and my mom made me some skating skirts. Spent every Saturday there. In high school (the mid-’60s), dances were held there with Dick Biondi (DJ from Chicago) hosting and some great bands.”
  • Nicki Young: “Attending birthday parties and throwing off my skates to dance to ‘C’mon N’ Ride It (The Train).’ ”
  • Erin Montressor Harris: “I spent many Friday/Saturday night at the rink with my white skates with hot pink wheels. I broke my arm there in fourth grade at a birthday party.”
  • Toni Justen-Holtz: “Had my first kiss in the kids rink, lol! Girls on one side, the boys in the other. We skated to the middle and kissed. I think fifth grade!”
  • Cass Becker: “New Year’s Eve balloon drops, anyone else find a balloon with $50 in it?? So much to miss, all hopes of it coming back are gone now.”
  • Monica Liguari: “Spent many times at that rink, 34 years’ worth! Wednesday nights, Thursday nights, weekends. With my kids, without my kids.”
  • Cindy Lawler: “I spent many hours at Just For Fun. Over four decades of skating. A recent hip replacement has stopped me from going lately. In the old days, the organ was played Friday and Saturday nights, and I couldn’t wait for jukebox time. I learned to spin on the little floor. There used to be a smaller rink within the rink. I taught the super skater pin to the younger kids on Saturdays.”

Want to share your memories? Visit tinyurl.com/yuhdvxnv.

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