Rippey Skating Rink by Cindy Anderson Cole

What Do You Remember About Rippey?

The Rippey, Iowa, Sesquicentennial will be held on Saturday, August 1, 2020. If you have personal remembrances of Rippey, you are invited and encouraged to share those memorable stories. Just send your remembrance via email and we’ll get it posted on the Rippey News Web site, as well as on Facebook sites of the Friends of Rippey and the Rippey Sesquicentennial. You write down the anecdote or story–a page or two–and we’ll do the rest. Phyllis McElheney Lepke is serving as our volunteer coordinator and stories may be sent to her at Rippey150@gmail.com.

Cindy Anderson Cole writes about how much she enjoyed the Rippey skating rink, in spite of the accident that she describes. She asks if anyone remembers who managed the music at the rink. We are also wondering when the Rippey skating rink opened and when it stopped having organized skating nights. Do you know the answer to any of these questions? If so, please let us know. Thank you.

I have enjoyed reading various memories from former Rippey residents. I grew up in Rippey and share many of the same memories; one of which was spending lots of time at the Rippey Skating Rink. It was a big deal to go skating with all my friends and to buy treats from the concession stand. On one particular evening,,,I went to the stand to buy an orange soda and while I was standing there,,,another skater, came in a little too fast and bumped me.. ( remember who it was but won’t mention his name 🙂) . I went down,,,the bottle came with me,,,broke and glass impaled into my hand. Someone drove me home with my hand bleeding…and when my mom saw it,,,she almost fainted…
Dad drove me to Grand Junction to see Dr. Wetrich…he cleaned out all the glass and stitched me up with 14 (purple) stitches!!! I still have the scar☹️
( anyway…… I went back to the skating rink…with my hand swollen and wrapped but it didn’t stop me from skating! 😊
does anyone remember who was in charge of the music being played at the rink ? They had some great tunes!

We had open skating,,,girls only, boys only and couples skate. If I remember correctly.
I always looked forward to couples skating because Denny Nail ( who just recently passed away…what a great friend….). And I had a great time skating…he taught me how to skate backwards!!!
I don’t know what year they stopped having those official skate nights but it was a wonderful thing for all of us Rippey kids❤️
When I go back home…I always drive past the rink and smile😃

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