By Sara Beth Williams–
Sunrise Rollerland celebrated its final skating session on Sunday night with over 350 attendees, rink owner Kathy Neutz said. The skating session began five minutes early and ended over five minutes late, with the DJ seemingly as reluctant to end as the hundreds of skaters lingering on the iconic rotunda skating rink floor.
The roller rink owners advertised the last session in a newsletter to subscribers and on their social media pages, saying online purchasing would guarantee entry. Tickets for the Sunday night session were sold out by Friday morning, according to the rink’s social media.
Employees Sunday night said coveted T-shirts with company logos and name sold out Friday evening as skaters flocked to the rink to catch the last handful of sessions before Sunday evening.
During the last session, the rink floor quickly filled with skaters from across the decades Sunday night as music from the 70’s, 80’s, 90’s and 2000’s spilled across the floor. Skaters of all ages from elderly to little kids were able to participate in the last run of iconic roller rink games like Red Light, Green Light, and the Dice Game, along with favorite roller dances like the Cupid Shuffle.
Former artistic skater Deana Devine Livingston recalled learning how to skate at Sunrise Rollerland with her siblings when she was only five years old. She soon joined “club” and began to learn artistic skating. When she wasn’t skating for fun, she was at club practice, she said, adding that, the only day she had to pay to get in was on Friday nights.
Livingston participated in artistic skating until she was 25 and had her own children, who she then taught how to skate. Her children are now in their 20’s.
Livingston’s mother, who sat quietly observing the hundreds of skaters on the floor with a smile, also participated in figure roller skating when she was growing up. She recalled how her sons carried Livingston around the floor when she was just learning how to skate.
Citrus Heights resident and long-time skater Chris Faubel brought his own pair of clean white skates to the last session, saying they were thirty-year-old skates.
As everyone reminisced together, he recalled how little things had changed over the last fifty years inside Rollerland, and pointed out the few things that were different, like the new video screen, flags with numbers hanging on the walls, and the shifting of one of the party rooms.
Other than that, Faubel and Livingston said very little had changed over the decades. They both recalled skating every weekend, Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights, and attending sock-hop events.
“We were always here,” Livingston said.
The Neutz family has owned Sunrise Rollerland since 1973, when Ken’s father began the business. Ken and Kathy Neutz, who met at the skating rink in 1986, Kathy said, took over the rink from Ken’s father in 2000 and have continued to operate with the same dedication ever since.
Over the decades, the rink has hosted birthday parties, school events, church events, holiday-themed skate nights, dance parties, sock-hops, group lessons, speed skating teams, artistic teams, and has been home to countless memories for skaters and families across the region.
The rink is one of the largest and oldest in the world, the Neutz’s say, and was constructed just after the completion of Sunrise Mall’s construction in the 70’s.
Kathy Neutz said the evening was “bittersweet” but added that they were ready to retire. Kathy also said their goal had been to find an owner and operator who would continue to use the skating rink and she was glad they’d achieved their goal.
Employees relayed the rink will undergo some remodeling, and that it could take from three months up to a year, but an official timeline was not immediately known. Kathy Neutz said the new owners were planning to refresh and fix some things that need to be fixed.
During the rink’s last week, the company denied rumors online that the roller rink would be cut smaller, saying that the rumor is untrue.
“The spreading of false claims only creates unnecessary panic and hurts the people who care deeply about this rink and its community. If you are not directly involved in the transaction or operations, please refrain from presenting rumors as facts,” Rollerland management said in a March 12 post on socail media.
The Neutz family shared two giant sheet cakes with attendees on Sunday night, each with printed with the “royal” themed logos of the rink. One listed the rink’s years of operation, 1973-2026, and the second read, “Thank you for rolling with us for over 52 years.”
At the end of the evening, the Neutz’s bid a final goodbye over the microphone to all the skaters on the floor, and thanked everyone for rolling with them one last time.
“We will miss you, big time,” Ken Neutz said.
