Bozeman Residents Truly Miss This 80’s Hangout. We Need One Again

As I think back to my childhood, there is one thing that will forever stand out. It was the place to be every Friday and Saturday night. You got to hang out with your friends unsupervised and have your first "slow skate" with a crush. This is also the place where the "good kids" would say swears. Ahh...the good times.

Where I grew up, it was called Skateland. The cool kids had skate covers and us average joes typically had to get the rental skates. After a recent Facebook post on the XL Country Facebook page, I have come to the realization that Bozeman and I definitely have something in common.

Bozeman had an indoor roller skate rink that was dear to the community. If you have been around since 1980, you know what I am talking about. Skate Palace. Opened in 1980 and sadly closed its doors in 1999. This was the hot spot for teens and music.

Skate Palace is something that many Montana residents recall and miss desperately. Many people have said we need another one to open up. Would it be the same as before? Would those memories of our past come flooding back to us?

I sometimes wonder if the easy entertainment of our past would be good enough for our youth of today. I tell my teenage son about how AWESOME it was to go and skate and do the hokey pokey and the limbo on skates. How we would have bruises from falling down on our knees and the infamous tail bone bruise from trying to skate backwards like a pro.

What do you guys think, would Bozeman benefit from an indoor skate rink, or is this just something we should keep in our memory bank, and enjoy the laughs as we reminisce about our childhood?