Skate the Square turns downtown Lafayette into a skating rink

LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WLFI) - Part of Downtown Lafayette was blocked off to cars and open to skaters. A temporary skating rink went up around the courthouse for the first annual Skate the Square. It's an event sponsored by Harrison College for the Boys and Girls Club.

"We can get out and have some fun," Skater J.T. Lehr said. "We can go around the courthouse for a long time, and just have a great time."

Great Skates donated 600 pairs of skates and all the proceeds went to the Boys and Girls Club. Harrison College President Al Parker said the idea came from his memories as a child.

"It just sounded like a fun idea," Parker said. "I can think back in the days long ago streets would be blocked off to skaters. We're just looking at the past [as we enter] the future."

It wasn't just amateur skaters out. Members of the Lafayette Brawlin' Dolls, a roller derby team, came out to skate the square.

"I originally started skating at Great Skates, and I was a part of the Boys and Girls Club," Lafayette Brawlin' Dolls Member Fon Parr Pixie said.

It's the first year for the event, but Parker said he hopes it can become an annual event.