CUDAHY — After 42 years of making memories, the Rollaero Skate Center in Cudahy is permanently closed.
The popular roller rink made a statement on Facebook saying, "Unfortunately Rollaero is no more. We want to thank all of our customers that have come in and enjoyed it here. We will miss you all. Thank you for the many years."
Rollaero Skate Center has been closed since March 2020 due to the pandemic.
According to an article written by our news partners, OnMilwaukee, Ron Miller built the rink for his wife, who was a competitive skater and coach in 1979. The rink was built using salvaged materials from the Pallomar Roller Rink, Rollaero's website said.
The website did not identify a specific reason for closing but did add, "During the COVID closure there was catastrophic damage to the skating floor and it had to be removed."
In a following Facebook post, people were asked not to try and save the rink with crowdfunding efforts.
"But please do not start any go fund me accounts for the rink. This was a hard enough decision as it was. Not going to go into details. Please respect the families wishes."
There was no mention as to what would happen to the space or what it might be used for.
In the same article by our news partners, OnMilwaukee, Rollerskating has seen an uptick in popularity over the past decade as shown in the 2019 documentary “United Skates.” Roll Train, a local skating organization that provides workouts, lessons and community engagement, has welcomed so many new skaters in the past few years they had to relocate to larger spaces multiple times.
OnMilwaukee listed a few skating rinks that are still open in the area: Skateland in Ozaukee, Butler and Waukesha; and Incredi-Roll in West Allis.
