A Retro Rollerskating Festival with DJs, Derbies and Rollerfit Classes Is Coming to Darling Harbour
For a month from late-March, Darling Harbour will be home to a pop-up roller rink — and a heap of skating sessions.
Get your skates on, Sydneysiders — and you'd best don your brightest, most retro threads, too. It isn't every day that Darling Harbour becomes home to a pop-up roller rink that's hosting a month-long rollerskating festival, so you'll definitely want to dress to fit the part (and to live out your Whip It and Xanadu dreams, obviously).
Meet Darling Harbour Rollerama, aka the place to be from Friday, March 25–Sunday, April 24 for anyone with rollerskates or blades strapped to their feet. Open daily across its five-weekend, four-week run, it's bringing all of the essentials. Disco ball? Tick. DJs spinning tunes? Tick again. Roller derby demonstration sessions and Rollerfit classes? Just keep on ticking.
Different events will happen on different days, although you'll be gliding around to DJs on most nights. On Saturdays, Rollerfit takes over, serving up rollerskating-based exercise classes that are both fun and great for your fitness. On Thursday evenings, you'll be dressing to a theme other than just retro — with 70s, 80s and 90s-focused nights happening across the program. And, on Tuesdays, skating will cost you less across all sessions.
Also, because Darling Square is currently home to Hello Kitty Town, that's being worked into Rollerama as well. So, Monday nights will be Hello Kitty nights — with dressing accordingly encouraged.
If you're wondering why Rollerama is gracing Darling Harbour, the usual answer applies: why not? Also, it's to give folks who popped on some wheels during lockdowns somewhere else to skate now that stay-at-home conditions have eased — and it's obviously timed to run over the Easter holidays as well.
As well as setting up the rink, which'll be located at the Pier Street Underpass near Darling Square, Rollerama is teaming up with Pumphouse Sydney Forecourt to house three separate bars. One will be a roll-up spot serving barbecue wings, smoked gouda cheeseburger, waffle stacks, and peanut butter and jelly thickshakes — and, on Friday and Saturday nights, as well as Sunday afternoons, you won't even need to undo your skates to order as staff will be zipping around to do just that.
As for the others, there'll be a shipping container bar with a Rollerama-themed menu, and a Mr Black bar as well. The latter will be located in a vintage airstream trainer, and will pour espresso martinis, but only from Friday, March 25–Tuesday, March 29 and Thursday, April 21–Sunday, April 24.
Eateries around Darling Harbour will also be doing specials, so you'll have other food and drink options.
Rollerama tickets start from $20 most days, and $15 on Tuesdays — or $25 / $18.75 including skate hire. You can also pay extra for a coaching session if you're a roller newbie.
Darling Harbour Rollerama is popping up at the Pier Street Underpass near Darling Square from Friday, March 25–Sunday, April 24. Head to the event's website for further information and to buy tickets.
