WELLMAN — For nearly a year now, the Wellman Skating Rink has been run by Wellman Recreation Manager Brenda Reasor, who took up the position last November.
In that time, the facility has undergone drastic changes. A new speaker system, floor and skate cleaning equipment, expanded concessions, early out Wednesdays and a monthly adult night are just a few examples of the skating hall’s rapid change of pace.
For the first time in recent memory, the city-owned facility is making more than it spends.
“It’s never really been self-sustaining before,” Reasor said. “That’s really been my goal, to make sure that it can make money. I have brought my retail experience in a little bit.”
Reasor, a former manager at Freeman Foods, said she stumbled into the position at a city council meeting. She had recently entered another job, but was looking for options when it wasn’t a good fit for her.
“It interested me just because I knew it would be an upbeat, energetic kind of job, which is kind of what I need,” she said. “I went into it not knowing what I was going to do, I had never even really been in the skating rink … I don’t know, it just felt right to me, and I’m kind of a spontaneous person. I felt like the position presented itself at the time that I needed it.”
Reasor said she remained thrilled with the position. While the role includes some work with municipal parks, yard waste and events, the skating rink represents the bulk of her duties.
“I literally go to work and throw parties all day, it’s great, you get to see people happy, you get to see kids having a great time,” she said. “There’s loud music and nice lights and it’s just a lot of fun. Who else can say they get to go work every day and throw parties?”
Much of the venue’s recent success stems from marketing. Reasor diligently runs a Facebook page for the rink, where she advertises its now-frequent events. This weekend (Oct. 29) the building will host a Halloween costume skate night.
“When I came into it, the only thing that I really knew how to do was market,” she said. “My goal was to get people talking about the skating rink, and it’s worked. I feel it’s been pretty successful, we’ve had people from far and wide come. On our first adult night, I had a group of 12 people from Illinois.”
The Wellman Skating Rink was a community icon before Reasor’s work. Longtime residents recall birthdays, parties and non-school nights spent circling the facility’s wooden floor.
The iconic legacy stretches back to the building’s origin, famously constructed by volunteers who traveled to Columbus Junction — where it was then a dance hall — to dismantle the building, bring it back to Wellman, and rebuild it piece by piece.
“Probably no long-haul effort ever has been made in Wellman that surpasses this one in terms of hours of labor freely given, responses to fundraising events and solicitations, and numbers of people involved in an ongoing project,” the Wellman Centennial Book says about the project, which it described as “an outlet for the energies and exuberance of youth,” that cost around $12,500 to pull off circa 1956.
Reasor said locals often stopped her around town to express their appreciation for the skating rink’s return to prominence.
“Most of them are pretty thrilled,” she said. “I feel like they’re pretty receptive. As far as the kids go, they love all the changes and the lights and that it’s really turning into a party atmosphere.”
That gratuity is reciprocated by Reasor, who said it was a new experience after her years working retail.
“It’s great for me, because I feel like I’ve never really done anything real great, it’s really nice to have people appreciate all of my hard work and efforts and tell me about it,” she said. “I just am excited that the Wellman community has been so accepting of me coming to town … I’m excited that I can make something work well and put smiles on people’s faces.”
The job comes with plenty of other perks. Other than the obvious things like city benefits, the title entails access to the building, a less tangible but much-used upside.
Reasor comes in to skate on her own time at least once a week.
“I actually prefer by myself,” she said. “It’s very much a workout, you burn a lot of calories in just an hour of going round and round and round. And it’s therapeutic in other ways, you just kind of get lost in the music and the wind in your hair, it’s great.”
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