Rainbow City Roller Rink

Rainbow City Roller Rink is an art collection which has recently opened downtown Detroit. The collection is created by FriendsWithYou and brought to Detroit by the Library Street Collective. Rainbow City has also been installed in Toronto, New York and in Miami.  

The rink is located in Detroit, at 1001 Woodward Avenue which is kiddie corner from the Ice rink in Campus Martius. Skate times are Wednesday through Sunday from 2:00-9:00pm, however reservations must be scheduled in advance. You can reserve your skate time online at rainbowcitydetroit.com. Entrance to the rink is free, as well as skate and locker rentals. You must complete a waiver prior to entrance. Pro tip- print and fill out the waiver before getting to the rink to speed up the process. My husband and I pre-printed and filled out our waivers and we got to the front of the line this way as many people were spending their time waiting in line to get a waiver and then sitting around to fill them out. We were actually first in line to get into the rink. You are also requested to arrive 15 minutes before your skate time and you are given 45 minutes for your reservation. 

The installation is playful and quickly brings me back to childhood. The rink floor is green and white striped and there are large ballon-like installations on the ceiling that are multicolored. In the center of the ceiling is a large 30ft rotating "snowman" balloon. As standard at any roller rink there is fun upbeat music as well as multicolored lights flashing while you skate.

It clearly had been quite some time since Nathan or I have roller skated.  We may have almost wiped out a few times, but we eventually got into our skating groove. The installation has a circular bench in the middle of the floor which was a great place to stop and rest or to sit and snap a few pictures as you are not allowed to have your phone out while you are skating. 

Overall Nate and I  had a really great time. It was a fun way to spend some time on a Saturday. I would highly recommend checking out Rainbow City Roller Rink for any age. If you are interested in skating, don't forget to make your reservation online before the installation is taken down,. Rainbow City Roller Rink will be in Detroit until January 27th!