Popular roller disco nixed at NYC park — and locals are wheely fuming
Dreamland Roller Disco
A popular weekly summer roller-disco event in Brooklyn's Prospect Park has gotten the wheels pulled out from under it — and locals are in an uproar.
The Dreamland Roller Disco — filled with DJs, dancers and drag queens — was scrapped earlier this month when organizer Lola Star refused to accept a 50% pay cut from the new operator of the LeFrak Center at Lakeside, according to a Change.org petition to 'save' the event.
The center, where Roller Disco was held for 11 years during the summer, underwent a massive $74 million renovation and opened again this past weekend — without the disco on its calendar.
'It was like a three-ring circus — it was a vibe and energy that I honestly have not seen anywhere else,' longtime Dreamland attendee and skate guard Billy Tyler Smith, 60, told The Post, referring to Roller Disco.
5 Roller Disco fans have flocked to the event for 11 years.
Dreamland Roller Disco
'They were my other family.'
Scott Lindeman, who had been skating at Dreamland events with his wife since 2015, said, 'It blows my mind that they would throw something away like that.
'People are going to lose out on one of the greatest social events that occurred every Friday night.''
5 Locals have launched a petition to try to save the event.
Dreamland Roller Disco
The petition to try to save the event has amassed more than 1,200 supporters so far.
Star claimed to The Post that the rink's lowball offer was an act of retaliation because she previously called out safety issues at the venue such as understaffing, hazardous debris and a 'significant decline' in security.
'When it would rain, they wouldn't want to cancel the event because they didn't want to lose money, but water from the rain would blow onto the rink and be slippery,'' she said.
In a statement to The Post about the nixed Dreamland event season, the Prospect Park Alliance, a nonprofit that works with the city to help maintain the famed green space, said it is looking to 'work with a range of producers on a rotating schedule of Roller Disco events.'
5 'The thing that I love about Dreamland is the community that Lola has created over the years,' a fan said of operator Lola Star.
Dreamland Roller Disco
The alliance claimed it 'attempted to engage in good faith with Lola Star to bring back the Dreamland Disco, but at every step she has made this untenable.'
Star retorted that she was ignored after an in-person meeting in July in which new rink operator Ekstein Development Group 'demanded to see our financial history — despite our proven success — and said their accounting department would decide if and how Dreamland would be allowed to return to our home for 11 years.'
Star said she is already in search of a new home, visiting potential spaces for the larger-than-life event series.
5 Fans flock to the colorful event.
Dreamland Roller Disco
Smith said of Star's opponents, 'It's classic 'penny wise, pound foolish' business practices.
'New York City cannot lose Lola. … She's majorly responsible for the popularity of roller skating and its slow resurgence.'
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