Skating at the Villa Rio

Although Corning had a roller skating rink, I never skated there. For me, there was only one skating rink and that was the Villa Rio in Lenox. It was operated by Leo Hale and his wife - he of the diamond pinkie ring and she of the dyed black hair.
I was six when I began learning to roller skate. Little kids wore clamp on skates. You didn't get shoe skates until your feet grew. After paying to get in and renting the skates at the counter, you'd sit on the bench and Mr. Hale would clamp your skates onto your shoes. Sometimes, if it wasn't too busy, he would pick you up and plop you atop the counter to fasten on the skates.
There were bars around the walls to cling to as you made your way to the back of the rink where there was an area about 8' x 15' where you could practice until you were good enough or brave enough to join the other skaters going round and round. There were also three poles in the middle where beginners practiced skating from one to another. You just had to watch out for someone cutting through to catch up with a friend across the rink.
By the time I was in seventh grade, I could skate fairly well. Good enough to attend skating parties and have fun. It was a big deal to be invited to a skating party. Groups such as 4-H clubs and church youth groups would reserve the rink then send out invitations. I remember one time when Mom was making Betty & I some new dresses. She had them almost done and I just had to have mine to wear to a party. The dress was long sleeved with buttons at the wrist and a row of buttons down the front. Mom stayed up late the night before working on it and finished it the next afternoon in time for me to wear.
Some skating parties weren't very well attended. This particular one was crowded. It was hard to even skate with so many people on the floor. We had only been there a half hour or so when I went over to the bench where Mom was watching from the sidelines and told her I wanted to go home. I was afraid she would be mad at me for wasting the money to rent the skates and for making her hurry to finish the dress. But she wasn't. Maybe if I had told her the other reason I wanted to leave - because the boy I had a crush on wasn't there - she might have gotten upset.
Villa Rio became a magical place for me when I began dating at 16. Kenny loved to roller skate. He even had his own shoe skates. On our first date, we doubled with one of his brothers and went skating; the first time of many. If he had wanted a skating partner, he would never have asked me out again. He could skate backwards, dance on skates, twirl, really wow me and everyone else watching.
One of the things I remember most about the Villa Rio was the long flight of stairs going up to the second floor. After a night of skating, it felt so funny to put shoes back on and walk down those stairs; kind of like 'sea legs'.
The skating rink was above the jewelry store. Kenny & I had been going steady for a year when one night after skating instead of heading across the street to the cafe, he began looking in the windows of Bunn's Jewelry.
A few years later, when our son Doug was six years old, I took him skating for the first time. I tried holding on to him until he learned to skate, but he was having none of that. He wanted to learn by himself. And learn he did. He inherited his Dad's ability and love of skating and spent many happy hours at roller rinks.