Hello my name is Loralei and I wanted to tell you about our family business. Ramona Roller Rink. The 96 year old Skating Rink. 

Harold has owned Ramona Roller Rink for the past 20 years. Ramona was Michigan's oldest Roller Rink opening on July 3rd, 1928. It was a dance hall when it first opened and introduced skating in the 1950s. Big bands of the Era came to play at the Ramona in her earlier days. One of those bands was George Jones and the Nine Hawkeyes. The Ramona was infamous! Harold worked at Ramona Skating Rink in the 1970s and 80s. And then had the chance to purchase her on March 1st 2003. It was a dream come true! He had always wanted to own Ramona but the chance was just never there until now! Harold with his 6 children, all worked the rink. Some kids have gone off to college and some have returned home to help their father run it. We have 5 wonderful employees, and we were doing well! We roller skated in  parades for Dowagiac on Memorial Day as well as the parade on the 4th of July. We did a lot of charity work with hosting fundraisers for the local public schools choir and band boosters. We also had a rink cat named Nugget. We would also host a birthday party for him and recieve donations for a few local animal rescue groups! We held school parties for other schools in neighboring counties. We have not met a local that doesn't know about Ramona Roller Rink. 

On Tuesday, May 7th 2024, lightning struck Ramona on the front west corner of the building. Fire was in the kitchen and even with the help of many local fire departments, they were unable to save her. Ramona Roller Rink is no more. Harold is still devastated, his whole life was gone in a matter of minutes! 

The building is a total loss and we had insurance on it, but it will not be enough to rebuild her like she was but the main thing we need is a floor just like the one she has. Ramona had her original maple wood floor from 1928. We were going to try to save the floor, keeping the status as Michigan's Oldest Roller Rink but we have had a very experienced carpenter out to check the floor for us and although it is in great condition for just being through a fire. We will be unable to protect it for the possible year or more it would take to put up another building around the floor and the floor can not be removed for a new building to be built. We are absolutely devastated that we can't save her. This place holds so many memories. I grew up there, my sisters and brother grew up there. Many people in the community grew up there. I feel as if I have lost a family member. I don't even remember much of my life before my Dad bought the rink, it has just always there. We went there even before we purchased her. She has been in our family for 20 years! We are just at a loss. 

We would like to raise the rest of the money we will need to rebuild The Ramona Roller Rink.  We know it may be a long shot but with our community behind us, we can do this!! 

Your donation will go towards covering the remaining costs involved with rebuilding this iconic staple to our community. We will also make sure she has the same type of floor our community has grown to love. We will also be doing fundraisers, bake sales, having an auction of some donated goods. We hope that we can rebuild the rink for our community. We are still working with our insurance company and our architect to see what the actual cost we will need to rebuild so the amount may change as we get numbers and information. Please check out our Facebook page for more information about the rink and what this means to us. You will not just be rebuilding it for our family, but for our community so we will again have somewhere for our kids to go where they are safe. Thank you so much for reading.