Last year, Kendyl Smith found herself running back and forth from the Student Media Office to print off waivers for the Roller Rink Bash.
She said Vandal Entertainment originally planned for 150 people to attend, but ended up with more than 600 attendees in the Bruce Pitman Center’s International Ballroom.
“Thank goodness we had Shawn O’Neal, cause he has access to The Argonaut office, and we were using The Arg’s copy machine all night long,” said Smith, who then served as the late night concert and film chair. “I had my friends man the table, I’d run up the stairs, print 50 copies. … I was running back and forth every few minutes.”
Smith said there were only 100 responses to the Facebook event page, so she didn’t expect more people to show up.
Lindsay Trombly | Argonaut
“Night of, I don’t even think the line of people stopped coming in the door,” she said. “It’s a blur how many people were up the stairs and going inside.”
Smith said they also had to grab any pens they could find to get students in quicker.
“We got another table and spread out the papers for people to sign waivers,” she said. “The stack of papers was stupid.”
This year, late night chair Saraya Flaig said they are planning for 800 people, as well as extending the length of the event.
“This event was so successful last year we decided to do it again,” Flaig said. “This year, we are doing it for four hours instead of three, so hopefully we can have more people come.”
Smith said Vandal Entertainment provided 75 pairs of skates and did 30-minute rotations for everyone to have a chance to skate. Some people also even brought their own.
Flaig said they are planning to have the same amount of skates and time rotations.
Smith said she wished she did some things differently last year, such as planning for a larger crowd.
“The one thing that I was bothered by was that I didn’t have the money to have a rink that was twice the size,” Smith said. “I wish I had a larger rink and maybe change the location of the tables.”
Smith said she thinks the event is so popular with students because there is no roller rink around Moscow, which is why she and her supervisor came up with the idea for the event — and the opportunity to skate herself.
Smith said she is hoping to attend as a student this year and have the opportunity to skate rather than printing off waivers all night.
“I might actually get to skate for more than five minutes,” Smith said.
Smith and Flaig encourage people to attend the event, even if students don’t know how to roller skate.
“It’s tons of fun, there’s lots of good music, and you get to hang out with your friends,” Smith said. “It’s a good event for anybody.”
Flaig said Vandal Entertainment plans on giving away glow items and pizza coupons at the event.
The Glow and Roll Roller Rink takes place 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. Friday in the Pitman Center’s International Ballroom. The event is free for students with their Vandal card and $5 for the public.
Lindsay Trombly can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @ lindsay_trombly