Candy hearts are not the only important hearts in February, because it’s also American Heart Month!

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 610,000 people die from heart disease each year in the United States. This means that heart disease accounts for roughly 25% of all death in the U.S. What’s more is that 735,000 Americans have a heart attack each year.

Thankfully, there are ways to reduce your risk of heart disease:

• • Exercise – The best thing you can do for your heart is a good aerobic workout, and skating is fun and a surprisingly good workout!

• • De-Stress – The aerobic aspect of skating isn’t the only heart-healthy benefit. Engaging in a fun, active activity can also be a good way to blow off some steam and de-stress. Making time for activities that bring you joy is important in managing stress, and we could all stand to be more active.
  • Find a Rewarding Exercise – It’s easy to use eating, drinking, or Netflix binging to reward yourself for an accomplishment or comfort yourself after a hard day, but if you can find a physical activity you truly love — whether it’s roller skating, rock climbing, or dancing — you’ll be better off.

So this February, start a new habit for the sake of your heart by giving skating a try! Our skating center has lots of great upcoming North Tonawanda special events to keep things interested, so check out our hours make your plans to visit today!

Obviously we love roller skating, but you can’t be skating all the time. Thankfully, there are a lot of great movies and TV shows that feature roller skating, so we can get our fill even when vegging out in front of the TV! Here are a few of our favorite roller skating moments in pop culture:

• • The Rink– In what is quite possibly the earliest example of roller skating on film, The Rink (1916) stars Charlie Chaplin as a bumbling waiter who just so happens to be amazing on roller skates. While the plot is minimal by today’s standards, the film really is a wonderful showcase of Chaplin’s impressive skating moves.

• • Happy Days – This sitcom ran from 1974 to 1984 and roller skating was very prominent (especially in the early episodes). Who could forget Marsha as a carhop or The Fonz with his terror of skates?

• • Roller Boogie – This 1979 musical stars Linda Blair in all her roller disco glory! Set during the height of roller disco’s popularity, Roller Boogie is about a couple who fall in love while skating and stopping a mobsters from tearing down their favorite roller skating rink.

• • Rollerball – This 1975 dystopian flick is full of cheesy ‘70s sci-fi action, but the rollerball sequences are still a lot of fun. Basically think of the Hunger Games meets football on roller skates.
  • Skatetown, U.S.A. – Skatetown U.S.A. is notable for being Patrick Swayze’s big screen debut (resulting in some Swayze fans to lovingly refer to it as “Dirty Skating” after the success of Swayze’s Dirty Dancing). The plot, or at least what’s there of it, centers on two rival skaters competing in a local roller disco contest. As expected, there’s lots of great roller disco set to an impressive disco soundtrack.

Once you’ve had your fill of watching, get up and skate yourself! Check out our our hours and upcoming North Tonawanda events and then make your plans to visit our Lockport skating center today!

Are you interested in helping your child to learn to roller skate? If so, we have a wonderful way to help preschool aged children learn to skate!

Rollers and Strollers

Rollers and Strollers is a special class that we hold every Tuesday from 10:00 am – 12:00 pm (October through April). For only $6.00 admission, you can bring your preschool aged child to the rink to learn to skate! Admission includes their skate rental, skate trainers to help them along, and admission to the Bounce Zone.

What’s more, all children are welcome to bring their favorite riding toy or tricycle to drive around the rink on! This way, even if they have a little trouble on their skates, they can still have some fun doing laps around the rink. Taking their riding toys for a spin is also a great way to get them excited about the rink.

North Tonawanda Skating Lessons

Don’t worry if your child is a little too old for Rollers and Strollers, because we also have outstanding skating lessons available every week. On Saturdays from 11:00 am – 11:45 am is our Learn to Skate Class. Each class is led by a certified roller skating instructor, so with a little practice your child is sure to pick up skating in no time!

Admission to each Learn to Skate Class also includes free admission to the regular afternoon skating session which runs from noon until 10:00 pm. When you take into account the added value of the regular skate session, the lessons are basically free! Admission to our North Tonawanda Learn to Skate Class is only $7.00 per person and $3.00 for skate rentals.

So make plans to let us help teach your little ones how to skate with our weekly North Tonawanda Skating Lessons or our Rollers and Strollers classes. And be sure to check out our other upcoming North Tonawanda events!

Whether you’re looking for ways to entertain your kids while they’re out of school or things to do with family visiting for the holidays, there are lots of ways to spend quality time with your family in North Tonawanda!

Here are a few of our favorite North Tonawanda family activities:

• Learn a new thing or two – There’s a ton of great history to be experienced around North Tonawanda. Check out the Theodore Roosevelt National Historic Site to learn more about our 26th president and how he came to have his inauguration in Buffalo.  Or make plans to visit the nearby Herschell Carrousel Factory Museum to see where over 50 carvers once make carousels.
• Give back – Volunteer with your family at a local charity like the Compass House, North Tonawanda Inter-Church Food Pantry, or Pets Alive.
• Stay active… indoors! – It can be hard to stay active when the days are short, dark, and cold, but getting in some physical activity is good for everyone. This is especially important for young children who need to be able to burn off a little extra energy and stretch their legs. Thankfully, you can come to Rainbow Rink for skating in any weather. Skating is a great activity for kids and adults since it is low impact and gives a great cardio workout. And of course, it’s fun for the whole family to skate with some great music.
  

So check out our Christmas Break hours and plan a time to skate with your family this holiday season!

The holiday season is upon us, starting with Thanksgiving just around the corner. It’s a time of celebration, but it’s also important to remember those who are less fortunate than us.

With that in mind, here are a few ways to give back in North Tonawanda this holiday season:

• Work with a Tonawanda food pantry. Food pantries need assistance all year long, and you can help by organizing a food drive or by volunteering in-person. Helping to feed the hungry is one of the best ways to give back in your community.
• Build a home for a family in need. Consider pitching in this holiday season by helping build a Habitat for Humanity house for a local family. This also makes a wonderful group activity for corporate groups looking for a way to give back.
• Volunteer at a nursing home. Retirement and nursing homes are often in need of volunteers to run events for their residents, read to them, or simply spend time visiting with them during the holidays.
• Hold a fundraiser for a local Tonawanda area charity! Rainbow Roller Rink is the perfect place to host your next fundraiser. Our fundraisers include supervised programmed activities, a light show, fully stocked concession and game room, and your choice of music. There’s also an option for a bar and access to our Bounce Zone! We’d be honored to help you raise money for a local Tonawanda organization that’s close to your heart.

For more information about scheduling a fundraiser in North Tonawanda, please contact us today at (716) 693-1100!

The school year is in full swing, and for many kids (not to mention parents and teachers) the daily grind can start to take a toll. That’s why it is important for everyone to make time for fun, exercise, and relaxation. This is especially important for kids. And that is why After School Skating is the perfect North Tonawanda after-school activity!

Rainbow Roller Rink is a great place to come for after-school fun in North Tonawanda. Kids can blow off steam skating or by visiting our Bounce Zone! Our Bounce Zone has lots of amazing bouncers, mazes, slides, and an obstacle course for kids to work off a little extra energy.

Exercise is a great stress-reliever, and skating is great exercise! Skating can easily get your heart rate up over 140 beats per minute. That means skating for an hour will burn up to 600 calories! Science also shows that skating increases your endorphins, which improves mood. Regular exercise also increases self-confidence and can help combat anxiety and depression. Taken together, all this means that regular after-school exercise can help children (and adults) gain a better sense of self, and puts you in better control of your emotions.

In addition to skating (or bouncing) off some pent-up energy, kids can also socialize and play some games while earning tickets in our Game Zone!

So make time for active fun with your child. From after school playdates to family fun nights at Rainbow Roller Rink, we can help to reduce stress and improve self-confidence for your kids!

Roller skating has a colorful past dating back hundreds of years! Check out these crazy roller skating facts to learn more about the amazing history of roller skating.

The First Recorded Roller Skate Inventor

The first recorded inventor of roller skates was John Merlin. Merlin planned to impress everyone by wearing a pair of his new skates to a fancy masquerade in the 1760s. His plan was to coast onto the floor while playing a violin. Unfortunately for Merlin, he was not very practiced, so instead of dazzling his fellow party-goers, he crashed into a large mirror and seriously injured himself.

The First Roller Skate Patent

Much later, in 1819, Monsieur Petitbled patented the first roller skate. The Petitbled skate was a huge improvement over Merlin’s design. Petitbled’s skate was actually an in-line skate made of wood and fastened with three leather straps. The wheels were made of ivory, wood, or metal. Unlike Merlin’s design, these skates could turn corners (something we take for granted today)!

Modern Skates

From 1743 through 1863, all skates were in-line skates. And then James Leonard Plimpton came along. In 1863, Plimpton patented the first four-wheeled skate. To capitalize on his invention, Plimpton converted part of his New York office into a roller skating floor and charged for the chance to skate around on his new skates! The idea was catching on, so in 1866 he expanded the idea by converting an area in a fancy hotel into the United States’ first public skating rink!

We’ve come a long way since the early days of roller skating! Now, hundreds of years later, you can enjoy roller skating in North Tonawanda. Make your plans to visit our skate center today!