If you’ve driven down Broadway over the past few weeks, then you may have seen dozens gathered under the Jackson 5 mural overlooking Fifth Avenue.
For several weeks this summer, the Gary Arts Council transformed the space beneath the mural into a community gathering place for an often-forgotten activity: roller skating.
“Skating is something that we can do together: across cultures, ages, intergenerationally, it’s active, and it’s something that family members can do together,” said McKenya Dilworth-Smith, chair of the Gary Arts Council.
For the past three years, the membership-driven organization has sought to bring arts and culture back to the Gary community by hosting various events.
In December, the council hosted a small ice skating rink in the parking lot of the Carter G. Woodson Library on Lake Street, drawing people of all ages. Hoping to create a similar experience for the summer, the council secured a grant and worked with community members to provide portable skating mats and skates.
“This is called ‘Artiv’ because it’s the art of skating married with activity,” Dilworth-Smith said as she assisted kids putting on their skates. “We want to build community in and around the murals; we don’t want the murals to just sit and be beautiful.”
Dilworth-Smith remembers growing up in Gary and hearing stories from her older siblings about Screamin’ Wheels, the popular roller rink that was a longtime fixture in the city’s Miller neighborhood. Like many Gary children, she couldn’t wait until she was old enough to go.
“It was a rite of passage,” Dilworth-Smith said.
Nostalgia was one of the driving forces behind the event, along with the historical context of skating in the Black community.
“Skating rinks played a role in the Civil Rights Movement because it was a place where freedom fighters could come together, integrate, and just have some downtime,” Dilworth-Smith said.
Across the country, roller rinks became battlegrounds in the fight against segregation. Black skaters and civil rights activists challenged policies that barred them from entering rinks or restricted them to designated nights — often called “Soul Nights” or named for Martin Luther King Jr. Over time, those nights helped foster a distinctive Black skating culture that became a staple in communities across the country.
Like Dilworth-Smith, Brenda Harris remembers growing up in Gary and going to Screamin’ Wheels on weekends.
“We had somewhere to go and enjoy ourselves with no violence,” she said. “I want to see it come back.”
Driving down Broadway after picking up her grandkids from summer camp, Harris stopped when she saw the tents. Before she could decide if she wanted the kids to skate, they were running excitedly toward the red mat on the ground.
After asking the cost and signing on the dotted line, the kids were being fitted for skates while jittering in their seats. They only stayed so long, but the boys laughed, danced, and did tricks to the sound of Michael Jackson in the background.
Harris smiled as she looked at them and felt hopeful about what might come next.
“I think it can bring the community together, both young and old,” she said about bringing back activities to Gary.
The summer skating event ran from Juneteenth through July 10, and the council is treating it as a learning experience about what could be offered to the community next. The winter skating rink welcomed over 600 guests, and it saw similar numbers during the summer skating season.
Members hope it shows other organizations throughout the community what can happen for the collective through innovation.
“We feel good about the community embracing this activity,” Dilworth-Smith said. “It lets you know that people in Gary want quality things, so let’s give it to them.”
