It rained on Wednesday, September 30, and the skaters came anyway. Dozens of people laced up at Blues Park, near the Historic 18th and Vine district, to break in a 16,000-square-foot outdoor roller rink. SK8 Shot Studios opened with a performance set to pop and R&B. After that came a free beginner lesson and an open skate. River Roll Skate Center brought a car shaped like a giant skate down from Riverside.
The ribbon cutting made for good photos. The bigger story is where the rink sits and what it's built for. Kansas City now has a public rink designed for open skating, close to the middle of the city, and anyone can walk onto it for most of the day.
Why the location matters
Knejie Allen founded SK8 Shot Studios, which KC Parks describes as Kansas City's first professional roller-skating school. He told KCUR what was missing before. "Roller skating rinks are all around the outskirts of town, so having somewhere central like this? Big, big deal." He also sees the rink as a meeting point for skaters from both sides of the state line. "This is something that we've needed for so long to be able to connect our skaters that's on the Kansas side and connect with our skaters on the Missouri side."
The city's other public option shows how big that gap was. KCUR calls Blues Park the city's second public roller-skating rink. The first is at Holmes Park, near East 70th Street and Holmes Road. KC Parks lists the Holmes facility as a "Roller Hockey Rink" with a link to its athletic reservation system. Parks Board minutes from November 2023 also describe it as an outdoor roller-hockey rink.
Skaters have put Holmes to good use anyway. In 2021, organizers moved a free Tuesday night skate there, running from 7 to 10 p.m. The plan was to keep it going until the weather turned cold, around mid-to-late October. For years, community organizers also held free skating events at Swope Park and asked the city to build a proper facility.
Resident Alicia Armstrong explained the appeal at the opening. "Some people don't have a nice, flat surface that they can go and get to easily. This is right in the middle of the city; it's a high-population area; it's easy to get to."
| Blues Park rink at a glance | Details |
|---|---|
| Rink | 16,000 square feet, concrete, outdoor |
| Hours | 5 a.m. to midnight daily, same as the park |
| Skate rentals | None on site |
| Parking | New 36-space lot |
| Other upgrades | Public restroom, 8-foot-wide sidewalks and pathways |
| Project cost | About $1.7 million |
| Park address per KC Parks | 2400 E. 20th St., near 20th Street and Prospect Avenue |
Built because people asked for it
Dimitri Milligan is a DJ and community skating advocate, and he provided the music for the first open skate. He has been part of the Swope Park events, and he saw the rink as the city's response. "Last time we spoke, one of the things we stressed is we wanted to see the children have more facilities where they can have more things to do. And I like to believe they heard that." Organizers also handed out free skates to kids at the opening.
Both of the 3rd District's council members spoke at the ribbon cutting, and both talked about residents' role. Melissa Patterson Hazley thanked the people who showed up and pushed for the project. "You all showed up for your community, you showed up for your neighborhood, and you're really showing that we have the type of support and participation right here on Prospect that people sometimes don't expect." She also mentioned the 24-hour daycare across the street, which the city invested in a few years ago. She said young kids there will be able to come over for field trips. Melissa Robinson tied the project to "Prosperity to Prospect" and asked the community to treat the rink as its own. "This is about health and wellness for our community, and it's up to us to take care of it."
The project moved quickly. Kansas City Parks and Recreation broke ground on May 21, 2026. The rink opened about five months later. Speakers credited the PIAC Program, DRAW Architecture, Gunter Construction and the UMKC Center for Neighborhoods with the planning, design and construction. The park itself has a much longer history. KC Parks records Blues Park as a 4.75-acre park acquired in 1967, in the Wendell Phillips neighborhood.
What to know before you go
The rink is open and the hours are long. A few details are still missing from the official materials, so plan around them.
- Bring your own skates. KCUR reports there are no rentals on site. Opening day had a limited supply of loaner skates, but that was only for the event.
- Go whenever the park is open. KCUR and KCTV5 both report the rink runs from 5 a.m. to midnight daily, matching park hours.
- Lessons are planned, so check back. Allen said SK8 Shot Studios plans more skate events and lessons at the rink. None of the opening coverage we reviewed listed dates.
- No admission fee has been mentioned. None of the opening coverage lists one. Skater Tori Eidson told KCTV5, "I love that it's totally available to anybody who wants to come."
- Watch the weather. KC Parks hasn't published a winter or bad-weather policy for its outdoor rinks. The rink is uncovered concrete, so check KC Parks before a cold or wet visit.
Pair your skate with a night at 18th & Vine
Blues Park sits on the southeastern edge of the jazz district. The rink is part of the city's roughly $400 million effort to revitalize the area. Several other pieces of that effort opened earlier this year, so a skate session can easily turn into a longer evening.
Wednesdays fit together especially well. The City's October 2 update lists Boone Theater pop-ups every Wednesday from 4 to 9 p.m. at 1701 E. 18th St., with artists, vendors and special activities. The Boone reopened in May after an $8.7 million restoration and now houses the Black Movie Hall of Fame. That makes an easy loop: skate in the late afternoon, then walk over to the pop-ups.
The 18th Street pedestrian mall held its grand opening on May 27. The street can be closed to cars during festivals and special events. KCUR reports that earlier in May, the city unveiled a $20 million parking garage at 18th Street and Lydia Avenue with 480 spaces. The garage is useful on busy nights when the rink's 36-space lot fills up.
More work is still underway. In February, the City Council approved $3.2 million in renovations at the American Jazz Museum. The Negro Leagues Baseball Museum has selected a contractor for a $35 million campus expansion. Both museums are a short walk from the rink.
Other places to skate this fall
Blues Park doesn't replace the places local skaters already use. Other rinks offer rentals or reservable time, which Blues Park doesn't.
River Roll Skate Center is an indoor rink at 4720 NW Gateway Avenue in Riverside. Its calendar lists public skate sessions today, October 4, from 1 to 4 p.m., and tomorrow evening from 7 to 10 p.m. It's a good backup when the weather rules out an outdoor skate. Check the live schedule before you head out.
The Holmes Park rink at 6901 Holmes Road can still be reserved through KC Parks, which suits groups that want set time on a hard surface. Skatemasters KC, a local skating group, was invited to the Blues Park opening and has an Instagram account.
When Aaron Frazier watched kids roll around the new rink on opening day, he summed it up for KCTV5. "Kids can get out and skate, have fun. It gives them somewhere safe to go."
New amenities like the Blues Park rink are the kind of thing we follow at Paul Michael Homes, along with the street-by-street changes around them. If you'd like to know how projects like Revive the Vine are changing the parts of Kansas City you care about, schedule a free consultation and we'll go through it together.
