Themed entertainment key to success of Skateland Chandler in

November-December 2014
RINKSIDER
13
Themed entertainment key to success of
Skateland Chandler in Arizona
Independent Voice of the Industry
By Connie Evener
I
n the heat of the Arizona desert, where
the average daytime temperature in
mid-summer is 106 degrees, Skateland Chandler, near Phoenix, provides an
oasis of cool comfort and invigorating fun
for guests. Events director Donna Petersen
keeps the schedule for this United Skates
of America rink packed with a range of
activities, during which deejay Steve Mellage keeps the skate floor hopping. The
entire Skateland team does everything
possible to make sure all their guests are
happy and well entertained. “It’s definitely a group effort here,” said Petersen.
When Petersen spoke with The
Rinksider, Skateland Chandler was winding down a month of Tuesday Night Family Dinners, Giving Back Wednesdays,
Trivia Thursdays, Friday Family Fun
Skates, a Mad Hatter’s Tea Party and a
birthday celebration for Michael Jackson,
the “King of Pops.”
Helping make those themes fun and
memorable is Mellage’s area of expertise.
“In this day and age, people’s attention
span is about 30 seconds,” said Mellage.
So one of the most important points for
a deejay to remember, he said, is to keep
things moving. With much more than 30
seconds lag time between ending one
activity and beginning another, he said,
Visitors to Skateland Chandler in Chandler, Ariz., enjoy a variety of redemption games and prizes.
soon as the song ends, we go right into
the activity.”
Another weapon in Mellage’s arsenal is being proactive by having everything ready at the get-go. By the time his
Michael Jackson grabber “Thriller” ends
and the house lights come back up, Mellage is ready to go with “Billie Jean” and
the “King of Pops” moon
walk contest. He regularly
promots the contest and
calls for moon walkers inbetween the previous five
or six songs. While playing those songs, he also
instructs every contestant to
head out to the middle of the
floor as soon as “Thriller”
ends – and while the audience is already primed and
gathered ‘round.
Equally important,
Mellage added, is getting
back to regular skating
Two young skaters celebrates a big win at a redemp- without delay after a contest
tion game at Skateland Chandler.
ends. “We want to do these
you’ll not only lose your audience, your games and events, but we are a skating
participants will start to wander off.
rink first. There are some guests who
But Mellage, aka “DJ Karma,” has a don’t care so much for these activities.
secret weapon he calls “the grabber.” To They just want to roller skate. So you
generate energy, excitement and attention, have to cater to both sides,” he said.
Mellage “grabs” the crowd by playing the
Mellage has another trick up his
songs that everybody knows and loves, sleeve, too, to get guests to exercise their
like Gangnam Style, the South Korean hit vocal cords along with the rest of their
that took the world by storm a couple of bodies. “You can make general participayears ago.
tion songs more fun with something as
“The kids go absolutely bonkers subtle as cutting the sound during the
every time they hear it because of the chorus part,” he said. Play a favorite singspecial dance on the video,” he said. The along song like Journey’s “Don’t Stop
same is true of “The Harlem Shake.” Believin’” or Village People’s “YMCA.”
Every kid in the rink turns into a wild and At the chorus, turn the volume way down
crazy guy or gal, and everyone who isn’t and listen to what everyone does. When
skating rushes to the perimeter of the rink the expected voices don’t sing the chorus,
to watch. “We turn down the house lights, everyone goes from passive to active,
turn on the laser lights, and everybody and sings as loud as they can to fill that
gets all pumped up,” said Mellage. “As silence.
Rinksider_NOV_DEC_14.indd 13
A big part of being an entertainment facility, said Events Director Peterson, is to bring in performers and the
characters kids know and love. “We try
to create memories for families,” she
said. “Everybody’s Un-Birthday Party in
Wonderland” was the theme for a recent
Sunday session. “We had Alice in Wonderland characters that interacted with
the birthday parties by playing games and
posing for photographs with our guests,”
she said. What kid could resist posing,
playing “Red Light Green Light,” and
doing the Hokey Pokey with Alice, the
White Rabbit, the Red Queen and the
Mad Hatter?
When it comes to making memories,
Skateland Chandler’s guests may someday reminisce about the time they went to
the rink with a box of crayons, a package
of macaroni and cheese, or a pair of flipflops. Giving Back Wednesday s is Skateland Chandler’s way of supporting the
nonprofit agencies that serve their area.
Skateland Chandler does food drives,
especially around the holidays, and helps
collect shoes for an organization that
supplies footwear (including flip flops)
for people in need. The causes chosen
for support on Giving Back Wednesdays
are recommended by members of the
Skateland team. “Our employees are so
involved in the community,” said Pearson. “If it’s a cause that’s important to
them, we try to make it important to us,
too.”
In August, the beneficiary was a
local agency that tutors disadvantaged
students. “When people donate school
supplies – pencils, paper, highlighters,
that type of thing – they get to skate for
99 cents,” explained Petersen. The same
organization, she noted, also provides
field trips to the theater, museums and
roller skating, of course. “We did a family
night for their clients a few weeks ago.”
Creating family memories is what
birthday parties are all about. And when
it comes to making a child feel like the
center of the universe, there’s nothing
like giving them a guest spot as deejay.
Mellage calls not just the birthday child,
but his relatives and guests, to the center
of the rink. Before proceeding with the
birthday interview, he hands the child
a mic and asks them to “take over” for
him while he takes a break. This is only
a test!
“It’s funny,” he said. “Half of them
get really excited. The other half gets that
deer-in-the-headlights look.” And that
response tells Mellage how to proceed
with this particular child, who may or
may not be comfortable in the spotlight
with a microphone.
He does his mini interview: What’s
your name? How old are you today?
What song would you like to hear? Then
he does the “Let’s hear it for Janie Doe!”
And because Janie’s friends and family
are gathered right there, their applause
and cheering come through loud and
clear on the sound system. After that,
if the child is old enough and Mellage
feels comfortable with it, he shows them
how to put the music on and how to turn
the volume up on the mixer. “They love
being able to do that. They feel like they
actually did get to deejay. They love being
able to see what’s behind the scenes,” said
Mellage.
Pearson, Mellage and the rest of the
Skateland crew are determined to keep
themes and activities fresh and new. But
they also remember that rituals like the
Hokey Pokey, or hamming it up with
Gangnam Style for the hundredth time,
are an integral part of the skating rink
experience. Not only do the memories of
those rituals last a lifetime, the familiarity
and repetition help even shy guests feel
comfortable enough to participate.
10/22/14 11:41:50 PM