Historic Trinidad Skateland to host Colorado Creative Industries after-party
Skateland will host a June 4 after-party as Trinidad brings a sold-out state creative summit downtown. The rink's role now reaches far beyond nostalgia.
Trinidad’s historic Skateland is set to become part of one of the city’s biggest arts weekends, with a Colorado Creative Industries after-party planned for Thursday, June 4, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at 424 W. Main Street. The event is being staged with Colorado Creative Industries, Create Trinidad, the City of Trinidad and Meow Wolf, placing the rink squarely inside a statewide gathering built around Trinidad’s creative district.
The timing matters for Las Animas County because the 2026 Colorado Creative Industries Summit is scheduled for June 4-5 in the Create Trinidad Creative District, and registration is already closed because the summit sold out. Colorado Creative Industries says the event is aimed at cultural workers, creatives, artists and industry leaders, and it typically draws more than 350 creative stakeholders from over 60 Colorado cities and towns. The Governor’s Creative Leadership Awards will also be announced in Trinidad, adding another statewide spotlight to the downtown district.
For Skateland, the after-party is another reminder that the rink is more than a place to lace up skates. SOCO Skateland says it was established in 1942, in the shadow of World War II, as a positive distraction for the community. Visit Trinidad describes it as Colorado’s oldest roller rink, and the rink’s own history points to a long run in local hands, including years under the Tappia family and its current operation by the Johnson family.
That continuity has helped the rink function as neighborhood infrastructure as much as entertainment. Skateland says it maintains a memorial wall for Bronco Billy, has started the SOCO Clubhouse nonprofit youth program, and continues to host swing dancing nights and other events. Recent listings also show “Stroll or Roll” sessions aimed at active adults 50+ and parents pushing young children in strollers, a sign that the space still adapts to different generations and different kinds of use.
The rink’s national ranking is less settled, with some listings calling it the 12th oldest skating rink in the United States and the rink’s own site calling it the 13th oldest running rink in the nation. What is clear is that Trinidad is using places like Skateland to tell a broader story about itself, one that links heritage businesses, downtown foot traffic and the city’s growing identity as a creative district. In a summer when Trinidad is hosting a sold-out statewide summit, Skateland will be doing what it has done for decades: giving the city a place to gather, move and stay connected.
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