Where we are coming from — There has been Roller Skating in the area around the Bandshell and Mall for many years. We have a poster from a Parks-Department-sponsored Halloween roller-skating event from 1936 and photos of young kids skating in the area in the 1940s. People have been skating on Dead Road from the […]

Happy Birthday CPDSA! — […] The CPDSA is a large blended family. Many of our original skaters have scattered to the winds; some — too many — are perhaps a part of the wind, now. Our roots go deep into the heart of Central Park. The Skate Circle began with a symbolic action, painting two […]

The Pandemic may have been a boon to rollerskating. During that year of homebound social distancing and lack of exercise, roller skates were a passport out of the house. You could skate on your own or with a friend and feel free. It helped a lot of young people ride out months back in their […]

A Difficult Summer— This summer has been difficult for the Skate Circle. We have suffered uncertainty and disruption after losing our storage space in the park; which makes it a great deal more difficult for us to get our sound equipment into and out of the park every day we skate. Still, with perseverance and […]

A Glimmer of Hope— As we prepare to celebrate the CPDSA’s  twenty fourth Birthday on the 4th of July, we find ourselves more in survival mode than in a party spirit. After only three months of trucking our equipment into the park, our volunteers and our bank account are almost exhausted. Of course, we are […]

Looking for a Home— This year the CPDSA is facing a difficult situation. We have lost our long time storage space in the park, due to building renovations. We no longer have a space inside the park where we can keep our audio gear, our infrastructure and — most important — a place where we […]

Our Twenty-Fourth Season— This summer has flown past or perhaps I should say slid by on rain slicked pavement. The wet weather put a damper on our enjoyment of the music and skating; ironically, it also served to make the good days that much more precious.  There were many days when we took a chance […]

Happy Birthday CPDSA— In 1994, the Dinkins administration reached out to to the Skaters on the Dead Road in Central Park. The area at the North end of the road had just been repaved as part of the Bethesda Fountain and Bandshell restoration. More and more, sponsored corporate events, fundraising walks and races benefiting various […]

CPDSA 2018 Season— Each year, the Skate Circle is a little different from the year before. We never know exactly what will change, but we can be sure the new season will not be exactly the same as any one in the past. Each year, we add new DJs, new music and new skaters. Some […]

Small Changes Go A Long Way— Heading into the final months of the 2017 season, we see that the small changes we made this summer have improved our skating experience. The traffic delineators we started using on the 4th of July have proven to be a versatile lighter weight alternative to the old steel barricades […]