All photos courtesy of Cathy Janik/Up North Live. Photos of The Spot and Skate On.
Top two photos: As The Spot Roller Rink. Noticed the difference than when it was Skate On with the windows up front. Originally, they had windows up front but they covered it up some times later on. Then covered the sides and perhaps back too to become windowless.
Third one was older. Just before it became Skate On because the car you can see in the photo. Looks like a Camaro. No, its not the same Camaro you saw in the "Camaro" Rink. Pretty spooky because both rinks had shown Camaros and both had fires. Just stay out of rinks, Camaros! No offense GM.
Fourth photo- Skaters enjoying skating in early 1980s. Maybe later 1980s.
Final photo - Casper who is a ghost got spooked by a Genie? Haha.
Top two photos: As The Spot Roller Rink. Noticed the difference than when it was Skate On with the windows up front. Originally, they had windows up front but they covered it up some times later on. Then covered the sides and perhaps back too to become windowless.
Third one was older. Just before it became Skate On because the car you can see in the photo. Looks like a Camaro. No, its not the same Camaro you saw in the "Camaro" Rink. Pretty spooky because both rinks had shown Camaros and both had fires. Just stay out of rinks, Camaros! No offense GM.
Fourth photo- Skaters enjoying skating in early 1980s. Maybe later 1980s.
Final photo - Casper who is a ghost got spooked by a Genie? Haha.
Three photos courtesy of Weichert. Taken before the fire. UPDATE -- Taken in 2016 (realtor). If so, should have known about the fire and change the photos. Its unethical to display something false of the property. What if new owner wanted to buy the rink and finds it was burned down after seeing the ad? Good question, right? It was sold in auction anyhow.
This was the rink before the fire. The ceiling looks awfully high. I measured it to be about 27 feet high at high point of the roof. Windows are gone. Paint was fading.
Major loss you can see. Yes, even that beautiful pine tree burned too.
Before the collapse, final view of the frontage. And the sign. The Logo for S reminded me of the Flash's logo. I love the way they said on the sign because look at the names of the rink. First it was The Spot, then it was Skate On, then Skatetricity. Can you read the sign? It says, "Skatetricity. We are THE SPOT. To get your SKATE ON." Very catchy! And clever! I love how they cleverly made this into a sentence. Clever huh?
Courtesy of Shelly Wagner. She is right. Read her post. Please do pray for the couple to finally heal after all these years of headaches in court and the expenses.
The Spot 2592 N Lake Mitchell Drive, Cadillac, MI
Skate On 2592 N Lake Mitchell Drive, Cadillac, MI
Skatetricity Skating Center 2592 N Lake Mitchell Drive, Cadillac, MI
Skate On 2592 N Lake Mitchell Drive, Cadillac, MI
Skatetricity Skating Center 2592 N Lake Mitchell Drive, Cadillac, MI
Before the fire, this cute rink, Skatetricity Skating Center was at 2592 North Lake Mitchell Drive, Cadillac, Michigan. I love the name, Skatetricity which combined the words Skate and Electricity. You are electrifying yourself by roller skating. You zoom by like a few well known superheroes you have read in comic books that they were electrified themself.
The historic rink opened in 1940s as The Spot until new owners in 1990s changed it to Skate On until year 2000 or 2004 according to Rink Time that it became Skatetricity.
Skatetricity owners were both couples - Tami and Steve Ingraham and Joe and April Wetherell. Before that, Skate On owners were Cathy Janik and her husband Dan.
To all of you, I am sorry about your losses. And no offense what you read below. I understand money is hard to earn and the risks. They say once you experience a fire, you will never experience it again.
I think that was the case here the owners of Skatetricity named it because of that. Traditionally, logos of roller skates itself have wings, that would be like Mercury himself, a Mythological goddness with wings on his shoes. But in modern mythology are found in comic books that children and even adults read. (Have you seen how they dress in comic conventions?)
So, this is why I love that name. I would have gone skating there but sadly, it went up in a fire quickly.
UPDATE --
I received an email today 17 August 2021 from a woman telling me more about this place. Here is what she has to say -
First, the photos from the realtor were from 2016. The building needed a lot of TLC and there was not enough income coming in nor money from the owners own days jobs to do any major repairs. It was a matter of just trying to stay open so the kids in the area had something to do. There is nothing else that doesn't cost a lot.
That being said, it was put up for sale in hopes that someone would purchase and breathe new life into it.
In 2000, Penny and Claude Woods purchased it. They ran it for approximately 6 years and then offered it up to Stefanie Nowland who had worked there for years, even before the Woods' owned it. Stefanie ended up turning the offer down eventually so Tami and her sister as well as their parents, April and Joe Wetherell, purchased the rink. The doors reopened on October 3, 2008.
The fire originated just off of the skate room in a storage area. The electrical in the building was quite old and it is assumed to have been the cause but it was never "ruled" as such. The wording of "it was not arson 'because' the owners did not have any insurance" rubs me the wrong way. It definitely was not arson and no there was no insurance. The cost of insurance, that wouldn't not have paid any amount near the cost of a rebuild, was far too much considering it could barely keep open without it.
Additionally, if anyone knows the family, they would know that fire is not something taken lightly... At all. I won't go into detail there but it is simply not something that would intentionally be done on their behalf. Ever.
The building would have been cleaned up immediately. However, the neighbor just to the east of the rink, decided to call the DEQ and state that he felt there was asbestos in the building. There was not.
The building consisted of the hardwood flooring, carpeting (new in 2001 so no asbestos underlayment) at the front near the concession stand, block walls and basement, wood sheets on the exterior front and a metal roof (new in 2009). It was not stick build and did not have wood tiling. It was 110 feet long by 60 feet wide. The skate floor itself was 90 or so feet long by 50 feet wide.
In order for testing to be done, you are correct. Each test same cost a decent amount of money, which was not affordable, and the owners were told that if there were any section of the building that they could no gain access to in order to obtain a sample, the building would automatically be flagged. The basement was not accessible so they knew it would be flagged.
HAZMAT would then have to come in, which the owners could not afford. So the property laid in ruins. The owners went to court to try to just be able to clean up the property without having to go through the testing phase. They kept getting turned down.
Eventually the property was seized for back taxes because there was no income from the rink being generated for it to be paid.
DGD2 did purchase the property in the fall 2020. They have yet to clean up the property in it's entirety. I can send pictures at a later date. The company is actually co-owned with a man that has practically purchased the entire "west" side of Cadillac. He is monopolizing that part of the town. The rink is approximately 2 miles north of Cadillac west.
I have thousands of pictures. I will have to get on some of my cloud drives to find them but I can get you lost anything I'm sure.
Wow, thank you and please do send me pictures when you can! Thank you so much for wealth of information. And ahead for the pictures.
The Fire --
What happened was they had a fire at 8:45 a.m. Thursday Morning, October 12th, 2017. It was a massive quick fire that it burned quickly. The aluminum roof sheets actually enabling the fire and trap the heat when the roof fell onto the Maple wood floor where rink was. It acted the same way as in a fireplace which fire can last for a long time. Therefore, the firefighters had to go in to remove the sheets which was difficult to do. Still, the fire spread quickly and the walls fell in. It was a total loss. Totally burned to the grounds that the fire could not stop. The building was very old and mostly made of wood especially the wooden floor and the aluminum roof materials were to be blamed.
Six fire departments responded to the fire.
They investigated that the fire started in the southeast corner of the building, the location of the skate rental area and the mechanical room. However, they could not find out what the cause of the fire. They believed the fire was already burning for a few hours before the alarms were sounded and fire departments responded. It was not an arson because the owners did not have any insurance.
The roof caved in 2 hours and 15 minutes later at 11 A.M. It was done for the roof. But the fire lasted more than 13 hours and produced way over 100,000 gallons of water were used to fight the fire. McD and B.C. Pizza brought over meals and drinks for dozens of firefighters who could not be able to leave the scene of fire that lasted this long.
This touched me that I had tears writing this. I felt bad for the skaters in area, the owner, and the owners of houses next to the rink because they did not finish cleaning up immediately after the fire. (Most cities and towns have strict ordinance that after a fire, it must be demolished completely and clean up immediately AND must be paid for by the owners of the said properties that were burned in a fire. I know of a case that one of my inlaw who had his house had a serious fire and he did not have it demolished because he had no money to pay for services to have it demolished so the city did that themselves and billed him but then shortly after that, he died young of a long term illness which forced my sister's out-law [ex-husband] to pay for it. This was in mid-1980s and it was 3,000 USD at the time. I told him not to pay for it because he was dead! This is why it is good idea to have fire or life insurance if passed away to pay for it.)
The owners did not have fire insurance or building insurance which was a huge risk to do so. It is necessary to have it. Sorry for being frank.
But in modern times (at least in 2018), they have not paid for clean up but the state said have to have abestoes inspection before removal and that would cost 30,000 USD! Then if there was, cost a lot more for removal. 30,000 USD for just an inspection? That just for ONE day of work? Excuse me, Michigan! Just should cost 1,000 USD, period! Inspector's pay plus suit and PPE and chemical test kit! Come on! It is like asking for 50,000 USD for a Toilet seat I heard 30 years ago! Silly! Give them a break! 4 years after the fire, they still have not cleaned up. They had to sell in an auction and a company bought the property and hopefully with their big pockets, they can pay for the clean up. Man, 30,000 USD!? Rip off!
“We had intentions of having it cleaned up in a month (after the fire) and now it is a year and two weeks later and it is still sitting there. We can’t touch it or (the state) will fine us,‘ Tami Ingraham said.
However, there was a Go-Fund-Me fundraising for the owners Joe and April Wetherell for their financial needs for that moment. However, the couple refused to accept any fundraising and asked for it to shut down. Even a fundraiser event was planned but cancelled at last minute. I know why. If you do this, its taxable. Consequences. Same as you winning a lottery. Same situation.
They even tried to sell it for 145,000 USD but they had photos of the rink on there. Is that made before the fire OR after the fire? If it was after, is that unethical to advertise that way? Someone is in trouble if that is the case.
The property owners had been in a court with Selma Township multiple times about how to clean up the mess or about how to pay. Going to court.. cost more. (shaking head). Well, it has been auctioned off recently in October 2020 and hopefully new owners will clean it up and what they will do with it, I do not know. The new owner is a company called DGD2 L.L.C based in Zeeland, Michigan. Upon my research, it is some kind of electrical company and is owned by someone I checked through was found on Linkedin.
The Interior.
It had Maple wood floor with exposed wood beams along with white ceiling panels. It was very simple interior with Sky Blue wall, and only on one end is everything but the rink. The Snack bar had Red wall, and the other wall White. I believe there were or was a mural. I am not sure because I dont have much pictures to see except all those pictures on Google Map were with people in it. I prefer pictures without people.
The skate floor itself was 90 or so feet long by 50 feet wide (M.F. provided info).
The Exterior.
It had Red Aluminum Sheet Gable roof with white walls. It was a Free-Span Wood Truss Particles-Walled School house - like Building. It did show it looked like Cinderblocks but it was not. It was stick built with Particles that looked like cinderblocks but it was not. Thin tongue-and-groove tiles that were plastered on the exterior wall.
It was very basic design.
It was 110 feet long by 60 feet wide building (M.F. Provided info).
The Stats:
Rink Size: 50' X 90'. Floor: Maple. Floor Layout: Log.
Building Size: 60' x 110'. (6,600 SF) Built: 1940s. Demolished: Thursday Morning, October 12th, 2017 at 8:45 A.M. due to a Fire. Cause still unknown.
Type of Building: Free-Span Wood Truss Particles-Walled School house/church - like Building.
Roof: Gable.
Acres: N/A.
Operated: (Overall)-- 1940s to Thursday Morning, October 12th, 2017 at 8:45 A.M.
The Spot: 1940s to (maybe) 2000.
Skate On: 2000 to (maybe) 2008.
Skatetricity Skating Center: October 3, 2008 to Thursday Morning, October 12th, 2017 at 8:45 A.M.
Reason for Closure:
The Spot: N/A.
Skate On: N/A.
Skatetricity Skating Center: Destroyed by fire and had no insurance, no chance for a rebuilt. Seized and sold.
Wanted: Information regarding exact dates of open/closed, why closed, size of rink, rink materials. Also photos. Anyone knows or have photos, please let me know by emailing at [email protected]. Thank you.
Sources: Rink Time.
Yelp - reported closed.
Northern Express - About rinks.
Up North Live - about the fire.
Michigan Live (online newspaper) - about the fire.
Cadillac News - Results for the fire.
Up North Live - Memories about the rink.
Cadillac News - A year later, refuse to pay for debris removal because no insurance money to pay for it.
9 and 10 News - 4 years later.. still same problem....
Weichert - Real estate;
Shelly Wagner Facebook post.
M.F. in email.
Note: The Facebook link is no longer available. They took down/close the link.
Date of issue: 31 March 2021. Update: 17 August 2021.
For Office Only: 13 (1 fb)
© Copyrighted by Dead-Rinks. All Rights Reserved. Jn 3:16.
The historic rink opened in 1940s as The Spot until new owners in 1990s changed it to Skate On until year 2000 or 2004 according to Rink Time that it became Skatetricity.
Skatetricity owners were both couples - Tami and Steve Ingraham and Joe and April Wetherell. Before that, Skate On owners were Cathy Janik and her husband Dan.
To all of you, I am sorry about your losses. And no offense what you read below. I understand money is hard to earn and the risks. They say once you experience a fire, you will never experience it again.
I think that was the case here the owners of Skatetricity named it because of that. Traditionally, logos of roller skates itself have wings, that would be like Mercury himself, a Mythological goddness with wings on his shoes. But in modern mythology are found in comic books that children and even adults read. (Have you seen how they dress in comic conventions?)
So, this is why I love that name. I would have gone skating there but sadly, it went up in a fire quickly.
UPDATE --
I received an email today 17 August 2021 from a woman telling me more about this place. Here is what she has to say -
First, the photos from the realtor were from 2016. The building needed a lot of TLC and there was not enough income coming in nor money from the owners own days jobs to do any major repairs. It was a matter of just trying to stay open so the kids in the area had something to do. There is nothing else that doesn't cost a lot.
That being said, it was put up for sale in hopes that someone would purchase and breathe new life into it.
In 2000, Penny and Claude Woods purchased it. They ran it for approximately 6 years and then offered it up to Stefanie Nowland who had worked there for years, even before the Woods' owned it. Stefanie ended up turning the offer down eventually so Tami and her sister as well as their parents, April and Joe Wetherell, purchased the rink. The doors reopened on October 3, 2008.
The fire originated just off of the skate room in a storage area. The electrical in the building was quite old and it is assumed to have been the cause but it was never "ruled" as such. The wording of "it was not arson 'because' the owners did not have any insurance" rubs me the wrong way. It definitely was not arson and no there was no insurance. The cost of insurance, that wouldn't not have paid any amount near the cost of a rebuild, was far too much considering it could barely keep open without it.
Additionally, if anyone knows the family, they would know that fire is not something taken lightly... At all. I won't go into detail there but it is simply not something that would intentionally be done on their behalf. Ever.
The building would have been cleaned up immediately. However, the neighbor just to the east of the rink, decided to call the DEQ and state that he felt there was asbestos in the building. There was not.
The building consisted of the hardwood flooring, carpeting (new in 2001 so no asbestos underlayment) at the front near the concession stand, block walls and basement, wood sheets on the exterior front and a metal roof (new in 2009). It was not stick build and did not have wood tiling. It was 110 feet long by 60 feet wide. The skate floor itself was 90 or so feet long by 50 feet wide.
In order for testing to be done, you are correct. Each test same cost a decent amount of money, which was not affordable, and the owners were told that if there were any section of the building that they could no gain access to in order to obtain a sample, the building would automatically be flagged. The basement was not accessible so they knew it would be flagged.
HAZMAT would then have to come in, which the owners could not afford. So the property laid in ruins. The owners went to court to try to just be able to clean up the property without having to go through the testing phase. They kept getting turned down.
Eventually the property was seized for back taxes because there was no income from the rink being generated for it to be paid.
DGD2 did purchase the property in the fall 2020. They have yet to clean up the property in it's entirety. I can send pictures at a later date. The company is actually co-owned with a man that has practically purchased the entire "west" side of Cadillac. He is monopolizing that part of the town. The rink is approximately 2 miles north of Cadillac west.
I have thousands of pictures. I will have to get on some of my cloud drives to find them but I can get you lost anything I'm sure.
Wow, thank you and please do send me pictures when you can! Thank you so much for wealth of information. And ahead for the pictures.
The Fire --
What happened was they had a fire at 8:45 a.m. Thursday Morning, October 12th, 2017. It was a massive quick fire that it burned quickly. The aluminum roof sheets actually enabling the fire and trap the heat when the roof fell onto the Maple wood floor where rink was. It acted the same way as in a fireplace which fire can last for a long time. Therefore, the firefighters had to go in to remove the sheets which was difficult to do. Still, the fire spread quickly and the walls fell in. It was a total loss. Totally burned to the grounds that the fire could not stop. The building was very old and mostly made of wood especially the wooden floor and the aluminum roof materials were to be blamed.
Six fire departments responded to the fire.
They investigated that the fire started in the southeast corner of the building, the location of the skate rental area and the mechanical room. However, they could not find out what the cause of the fire. They believed the fire was already burning for a few hours before the alarms were sounded and fire departments responded. It was not an arson because the owners did not have any insurance.
The roof caved in 2 hours and 15 minutes later at 11 A.M. It was done for the roof. But the fire lasted more than 13 hours and produced way over 100,000 gallons of water were used to fight the fire. McD and B.C. Pizza brought over meals and drinks for dozens of firefighters who could not be able to leave the scene of fire that lasted this long.
This touched me that I had tears writing this. I felt bad for the skaters in area, the owner, and the owners of houses next to the rink because they did not finish cleaning up immediately after the fire. (Most cities and towns have strict ordinance that after a fire, it must be demolished completely and clean up immediately AND must be paid for by the owners of the said properties that were burned in a fire. I know of a case that one of my inlaw who had his house had a serious fire and he did not have it demolished because he had no money to pay for services to have it demolished so the city did that themselves and billed him but then shortly after that, he died young of a long term illness which forced my sister's out-law [ex-husband] to pay for it. This was in mid-1980s and it was 3,000 USD at the time. I told him not to pay for it because he was dead! This is why it is good idea to have fire or life insurance if passed away to pay for it.)
The owners did not have fire insurance or building insurance which was a huge risk to do so. It is necessary to have it. Sorry for being frank.
But in modern times (at least in 2018), they have not paid for clean up but the state said have to have abestoes inspection before removal and that would cost 30,000 USD! Then if there was, cost a lot more for removal. 30,000 USD for just an inspection? That just for ONE day of work? Excuse me, Michigan! Just should cost 1,000 USD, period! Inspector's pay plus suit and PPE and chemical test kit! Come on! It is like asking for 50,000 USD for a Toilet seat I heard 30 years ago! Silly! Give them a break! 4 years after the fire, they still have not cleaned up. They had to sell in an auction and a company bought the property and hopefully with their big pockets, they can pay for the clean up. Man, 30,000 USD!? Rip off!
“We had intentions of having it cleaned up in a month (after the fire) and now it is a year and two weeks later and it is still sitting there. We can’t touch it or (the state) will fine us,‘ Tami Ingraham said.
However, there was a Go-Fund-Me fundraising for the owners Joe and April Wetherell for their financial needs for that moment. However, the couple refused to accept any fundraising and asked for it to shut down. Even a fundraiser event was planned but cancelled at last minute. I know why. If you do this, its taxable. Consequences. Same as you winning a lottery. Same situation.
They even tried to sell it for 145,000 USD but they had photos of the rink on there. Is that made before the fire OR after the fire? If it was after, is that unethical to advertise that way? Someone is in trouble if that is the case.
The property owners had been in a court with Selma Township multiple times about how to clean up the mess or about how to pay. Going to court.. cost more. (shaking head). Well, it has been auctioned off recently in October 2020 and hopefully new owners will clean it up and what they will do with it, I do not know. The new owner is a company called DGD2 L.L.C based in Zeeland, Michigan. Upon my research, it is some kind of electrical company and is owned by someone I checked through was found on Linkedin.
The Interior.
It had Maple wood floor with exposed wood beams along with white ceiling panels. It was very simple interior with Sky Blue wall, and only on one end is everything but the rink. The Snack bar had Red wall, and the other wall White. I believe there were or was a mural. I am not sure because I dont have much pictures to see except all those pictures on Google Map were with people in it. I prefer pictures without people.
The skate floor itself was 90 or so feet long by 50 feet wide (M.F. provided info).
The Exterior.
It had Red Aluminum Sheet Gable roof with white walls. It was a Free-Span Wood Truss Particles-Walled School house - like Building. It did show it looked like Cinderblocks but it was not. It was stick built with Particles that looked like cinderblocks but it was not. Thin tongue-and-groove tiles that were plastered on the exterior wall.
It was very basic design.
It was 110 feet long by 60 feet wide building (M.F. Provided info).
The Stats:
Rink Size: 50' X 90'. Floor: Maple. Floor Layout: Log.
Building Size: 60' x 110'. (6,600 SF) Built: 1940s. Demolished: Thursday Morning, October 12th, 2017 at 8:45 A.M. due to a Fire. Cause still unknown.
Type of Building: Free-Span Wood Truss Particles-Walled School house/church - like Building.
Roof: Gable.
Acres: N/A.
Operated: (Overall)-- 1940s to Thursday Morning, October 12th, 2017 at 8:45 A.M.
The Spot: 1940s to (maybe) 2000.
Skate On: 2000 to (maybe) 2008.
Skatetricity Skating Center: October 3, 2008 to Thursday Morning, October 12th, 2017 at 8:45 A.M.
Reason for Closure:
The Spot: N/A.
Skate On: N/A.
Skatetricity Skating Center: Destroyed by fire and had no insurance, no chance for a rebuilt. Seized and sold.
Wanted: Information regarding exact dates of open/closed, why closed, size of rink, rink materials. Also photos. Anyone knows or have photos, please let me know by emailing at [email protected]. Thank you.
Sources: Rink Time.
Yelp - reported closed.
Northern Express - About rinks.
Up North Live - about the fire.
Michigan Live (online newspaper) - about the fire.
Cadillac News - Results for the fire.
Up North Live - Memories about the rink.
Cadillac News - A year later, refuse to pay for debris removal because no insurance money to pay for it.
9 and 10 News - 4 years later.. still same problem....
Weichert - Real estate;
Shelly Wagner Facebook post.
M.F. in email.
Note: The Facebook link is no longer available. They took down/close the link.
Date of issue: 31 March 2021. Update: 17 August 2021.
For Office Only: 13 (1 fb)
© Copyrighted by Dead-Rinks. All Rights Reserved. Jn 3:16.