Music can be heard over the clicking of skates against the wooden rink and the buzz of children talking. It's Saturday night and Ann Sheridan, 71, stands in the middle of the rink at Muncie's Gibson Roller Arena wearing her white skates and orange vest, which indicates she is a figure of authority. She takes a few laps making sure everyone is behaving and all is running smoothly.
Ann Sheridan's father opened Gibson Roller Arena on Oct. 17, 1940. It was an ice skating rink in the winter and a roller skating rink in the summer. In 1948, the rink changed to only offer roller-skating.
Today, Ann Sheridan and her husband, George, are the owners. George and Ann Sheridan married in 1953, then in 1967, they bought the skating rink.
"Skating must be good for us," Ann Sheridan said. "We've been married 50 years."
Both Ann and George Sheridan grew up working at the rink.
"My dad put me to work at [age] 8 for five cents an hour," she said.
George Sheridan said he has known his wife since he was 11 or 12. Then, George Sheridan only lived four blocks from the rink where he would spend his summers working.
"This is a mom and pop operation," George Sheridan said.
During the Sheridans' long stint as owners of the rink, they have befriended numerous patrons.
"This had been here for probably six generations and has caused two to three generations," George Sheridan said. "You see the parents grow up and now you see their kids come in."
Ann Sheridan said the regulars are referred to as "rink rats."
George Sheridan estimated 2,500 to 2,600 people go to Gibson's Roller Rink in a week's time during the busy season. The rink stays busy during the winter when it is too cold to go outside. Local schools use the rink for class parties on a regular basis.
"This is the more fun part," George Sheridan said during a Saturday night skating session. "When you have to do the business part, it is not as much fun."
Between paper work and cleaning the rink, George Sheridan said he and his wife stay busy even when the rink is not open.
Both Ann and George Sheridan still enjoy taking a few laps around the rink. Ann Sheridan said she skates seven days a week.
"I'm 71 years old, and I just won't let (the kids) get a head of me," she said. "I go to keep ahead of them."
Ann Sheridan began skating when she was four years old.
"Roller skating is the best sport you can do," she said. "You use every muscle in your body."
Ann Sheridan said many of the skaters come to "meet with their friends and socialize."
Many of the children who skate at the rink are dropped off by their parents.
"We take care of them like they are our own," George Sheridan said. "We try to keep up with them."
While the rink provides area youth a place to skate, George Sheridan said the rink gives children a safe place to hang out and stay out of trouble.
"The most important thing is it gives children in the community a place to come and meet," George Sheridan said.
Hollie Reynolds, 32, is part of a multi-generational family who has been skating at the Gibson rink for years.
"I've been coming here since I was probably 10," she said. "My sister and I used to come, and now we bring our kids."
Reynolds said her mother used to go to the rink when it was still an ice skating rink.
Reynolds and her three children, Cody, 12, Brandon, 8, and Addison, 6, come at least once a week in the winter.
"We have been coming here so long they call us the rink rats," Reynolds said. "It's good family entertainment. I can hang out with my kids and pretend to be a cool mom."
Reynolds said the rink has not changed since she came as a child.
Gibson Roller Arena is located at 2610 S. Mock Avenue in Muncie. The rink offers skate rental, a game room, indoor putt-putt, a snack bar and a lounge with a fireplace. Call 282-2971 for more information.
"It's been here so long it's a part of the community," George Sheridan said. "It's really a family affair."
Read More
Three Air Jam teams take home the win
October 12, 2012Nineteen teams shimmied, shook and flipped for a sold out John R. Emens Auditorium on Thursday night during the 25th annual Air Jam.
Bill Clinton Speaks at North Central High School
October 12, 2012Former President's Speech Could Have Effect on State Senate Race
