MACARTHUR, WV (LOOTPRESS) – The MacArthur Skating Rink building has been a fixture in Raleigh County for 70 years, and the structure stands as a testament to some of the most treasured memories in the lives of generations of residents.
The now defunct establishment still stands at its Robert C. Byrd Drive location, despite ongoing rumors of its impending – and, depending on who you ask, already implemented – demolition.
First erected in 1952, the structure saw life before the politician from which Route 16 would take its name had even reached middle age.
One could even argue that the MacArthur Skating Rink predates rock & roll as a mainstream musical form, as its construction came two years prior to the 1954 recording of the seminal “Rock Around the Clock” by Bill Haley & His Comets – which is considered by many to be the song which introduced rock & roll to a widespread audience.
In fact, the King of Rock & Roll himself, Elvis Presley, wouldn’t make his very first recordings at Sun Records until a year following the rink’s construction.
JFK, The Beatles, the Vietnam War, the moon landing, MLK, the Cuban Missile Crisis, 9/11 – the MacArthur Skating Rink has been around for it all. The building even predates the introduction of the Super Bowl by well over a decade.
But for the litany of nationally recognized events for which the establishment has been around during its lifetime, the building has played host to even more moments which occupy an intimate and personal place in the hearts of residents of Raleigh County and the surrounding areas.
Like so many other businesses throughout the country, the MacArthur Skating Rink took a substantial blow to business in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent restrictions that ensued.
Unsurprisingly, the business closed its doors in the final days of 2021, choosing to voluntarily dissolve in a request which was approved by the WV Secretary of State on 12/29/2021.
As it stands currently, West Virginia residents – along with many citizens across the country – have resumed social activity with little in the way of regard to the restrictions which loomed heavily over the 2020-2021 period.
As such, does it not stand to reason that the MacArthur Skating Rink could be rejuvenated and welcomed back as a community staple with open arms by the droves of social media users pushing back against its perceived demolition?
It’s a nice idea, but there is often little in the way of overlap between nice ideas and practical ones.
The decline of business at the skating rink began long before the media frenzy brought about by the pandemic, and one might venture to say that this change itself was brought about more by a cultural shift than any kind of social restrictions.
It is this writer’s experience that those clinging most vehemently to days-past spent traversing the surface of the rink are those who were coming of age during the 1970s and 1980s.
During these periods, a skating rink was not only a viable form of entertainment and social stimuli, it was a cultural staple, spurred on by evolving trends and the advent of disco and electronic pop music.
As a child of the ‘90s – I arrived in the summer of ‘91 – my first memories of the place don’t so much include the place itself as they do my friends speaking reverently of it – a conviction likely appropriated from adults who came of age in the previously mentioned decades.
It is my understanding that the skating rink was still a hot commodity during the 1990s, however; and I even got to experience the excitement for myself a handful of times, despite my own pronounced lack of social refinement and complete inability to function on a pair of skates.
But the brief flashes of those times that I still retain today seem to sufficiently illustrate just what all the fuss was, and continues to be, about.
What the MacArthur Skating Rink represented to so many was a sense of freedom – an escape from the shackles of everyday existence and the suppression of natural impulse enforced by the watchful eyes of parents and guardians.
Presented through this venue was an arena in which one could not only be themselves, they could – perhaps more pertinently – find themselves.
People came to socialize, enjoy music (before every recorded song in the history of humanity was immediately accessible in the pocket of anyone walking the street), engage in the pursuit of friendship and romance, and – in the case of some – just to have fun skating on a Friday night.
So what gives? Do young folks not still enjoy socializing, listening to music, and engaging with their peers?
They do. It’s just that, as a means to these ends, endeavors such as gathering at a skating rink have been superseded by more convenient alternatives, many of which don’t even require a person to lift themselves from the comfort of their sofa.
A keen eye may ascertain that, even in the hyper-technological world of today – people generally attain more joy from activities that involve others and allow them to truly exercise their social instincts.
But it also seems that people in general – even those cognizant of the discrepancy in question – would sooner commit to the tradeoff of engaging in the activity that requires the least attention and effort, even if that means the subsequent payoff is substantially restricted.
In short: Most people just can’t be bothered.
It is a sordid truth of modern society that, given the option to do something or do nothing (or in many cases, do nothing under the guise of actually doing something,) most will opt for the latter – particularly young people.
This is where establishments that could be considered antiquated by today’s standards get hit the hardest. Despite the notable enthusiasm of the boomer generation and their immediate descendants for these types of activities, they can’t justifiably be expected to zip around on rollerblades every weekend.
This leaves it to an indifferent generation of social media addicts to keep tradition going, and if there is anything to which these folks have shown little-to-no regard in recent years, it’s traditional ways of thinking.
While one could argue that the youth could be held responsible for the fading relevancy of establishments such as the MacArthur Skating Rink, it’s more a case of the natural, cultural erosion brought about by the passage of time.
This writer would love nothing more than to witness the reemergence of the MacArthur Skating Rink as a community staple. But if there’s anything I learned during my years of business school, it’s that such a development would be improbable at best.
In all likelihood, so long as it remains standing, the MacArthur Skating Rink has already become what it was ultimately destined to be: a testament to times long gone, a monument to memories.
