Skaters Gonna Skate
Sandy Luchessi (L) and Diana Colby have been instrumental in keeping the wheels turning at Parkview Skating Center.
Skating centers have come and gone in Roseburg, but roller skating has remained a tradition in town for decades. Today, thanks to community support, Parkview Skating Center is here to stay.
Story by Miki Markovich Photo by Thomas Boyd
That the Parkview Skating Center exisits at all today is a tribute to the fundraising tenacity of two persistent roller-skating moms and the group of people who helped.
That it has been around for nearly 24 years testifies to their dedication.
Diana Colby has been director of non-profit, community-owned Parkview since Day One. She is also the founder and president of Umpqua Valley Community Projects Inc., the corporation under which Roseburg’s skating center formally operates.
Sandie Lucchesi, president of the skating center’s board of directors, relates how Colby and she got started.
“We have had a skating rink in Douglas County for as long as I can remember and I’ve been here 42 years,” says Lucchesi. “There was the Buckaroo Barn. Another was on Diamond Lake Boulevard, and the last skating rink we had was on Stewart Parkway, and that’s now a physical therapy center.”
The latter location is where the two women met. Both had children who were competitive roller skaters. Colby, an avid skater herself since age 7, asked Lucchesi about having their respective kids — separated by just a year — skate together in competition.
The pairing was successful, but nobody knew the Roseburg Skating Club — one of three roller- skating organizations in Oregon — would soon be without a home rink.
“Diana (Colby) came up with the idea to build a community meeting center that would never go away because it would be community-owned.”
— Sandy Lucchesi
“It was when we returned from qualifying for nationals, we received notice that the building was being shut down,” says Lucchesi. “Then Diana came up with this idea to build a community meeting center that would never go away because it would be community- owned — not owned by an individual who could later sell it.”
The big question was financial — where, and how, to find the money to make it happen.
“There was a group of us, about 10 people, who would meet weekly to come up with ideas on how to raise the money to move forward,” Lucchesi recalls.
The group, and individuals, sold candy bars and hot dogs, took vintage photos, conducted school fundraisers and operated pop- up car washes, among other endeavors. The group’s determination also caught the eye of Kenneth Ford, the late founder of Roseburg Forest Products, who wound up writing a personal check for $2 million to put fundraising efforts over the top – to say the least.
“We have now been self-sustaining for 23 years,” says Colby. “The Ford Family Foundation helped us replace our inline skates a few years ago and recently awarded us a COVID-related $6,799 grant for emergency help.”
Roller skating has undergone several rebirths in popularity since the invention of the roller skate in 1735 in England. Inline skates introduced nearly a half-century ago revolutionized the sport and aided a resurgence in competitive speed skating.
Skating’s value as physical exercise has been well-documented and the sport is recommended by the American Heart Association. It’s not only a family activity, but generational as well.
Amy Kottke skated at Parkview the year it opened. She was 8 at the time. Her mother once worked in the center’s kitchen. These days, Kottke visits Parkview with her own children.
Vintage photos were part of the early fundraising efforts to support the skating center.
“Skating has so many benefits,” she says. “It is definitely a fun way to work out. It’s a fun bonding activity for my kids and me as well. I grew up performing with the Roseburg Skate Team and my daughter joined when she was 5. It was fun connecting with her about it and having her ask me about different jumps, spins and performances.”
Parkview caters to skaters of all ages, sizes and skill levels, with classes and private coaching, plus competitions and showcase- style performances. All in a COVID-conscious environment.
“You get out of it what you put into it,” says Lucchesi. “If you want to skate really fast and learn to skate backwards or if you just want to go slow, hand on the railing and skate around and talk, it’s all there. It’s not only a physical thing, it’s a social thing.”
Best of all for skating aficionados — and unlike its predecessors — Parkview Skating Center won’t be shutting down any time in the foreseeable future. Except, maybe temporarily due to COVID restrictions, and even then there’s light at the end of the rink.
Parkview Skating Center’s current hours of operation, promotions and COVID-19 safety measures can be seen at parkviewskating.com.
