Funkys Skate Center hoping to open at the end of October

HARRISONBURG, Va. (WHSV) - As the one year anniversary of the Harrisonburg natural gas explosion that leveled a shopping center comes closer, one neighboring business has yet to open.

Funkys Skate Center, located behind the previous shopping center, has been closed since Oct. 17, 2020 after the explosion pulled down all of the ceiling tiles above the skating rink and destroyed almost every window of the building.

Owner Joanne Willis says for her, the one year of being closed has just felt like a lifetime. After almost a year of continuous repairs and delayed reopening, Willis says it will be time to get your skates back on soon.

Inside the building there is new insulation and lights. The party room, which took one of the hardest hits from the blast, has been restored with all new flooring.

Workers like Maryssa Mottesheard say they’ve committed more time to handiwork than just skating. Mottesheard says almost all repairs are complete and now they’re just waiting on a building inspector.

“We had a delay with the flooring coming in and the glass coming in so we could finish closing off the office windows,” Mottesheard says. “So that stuff kinda put us behind a little bit but we’re getting there.”

More improvements to the building include flooring around the rink, a projector for videos to be played on one wall, original artwork and an updated DJ booth.

Willis says she is hopeful the skating rink will reopen again at the end of October for guests. She says she’s still unsure when they will begin to take party reservations, but hopes that happens again soon too.

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