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Shutting down Old Armory amid safety concerns displaces groups

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BROOKINGS – The City of Brookings announced in August that the Old Armory at 221 Main Avenue would be closed due to safety issues; the closing took effect Sept. 10. 

This closure will give the city a chance to make some much-needed repairs, especially to the roof, but it has displaced several groups that rely on the structure for a gathering place.

Needed work

“The facility will be closed to patch the roof, fix ADA issues, other areas of concern, and take measures to clean it up. The facility does not meet the Brookings standard,” City Manager Paul Briseno told the Register earlier this summer.

Dan Brettschneider, director of Parks, Recreation and Forestry, later detailed reasons it had to be closed.

“The main reason is the safety of the people using the building,” he said.

The structural integrity of the roof is not good. The roof leaks in heavy rain or snowmelt, causing ceiling tiles to fall and flooding the stage and gym floor, which warps the floor, causing more safety issues. No one is sure where all the rain is going, so there’s no definitive idea of how much damage it’s doing. The air quality is suspect due to a bad smell, and nobody knows what’s causing it, Brettschneider said.

During a council study session on July 24, Briseno summarized the history of the 1937 structure, which was constructed by the Works Progress Administration. The building has mold, asbestos and lead from previously being used as a shooting range.

The Brookings City Council directed Briseno to get more accurate and current estimates for all options and to get the structure assessed by a professional to find out what is needed.

There is no date set for re-opening the Old Armory.

Usage

Meanwhile, the closing will displace several groups that have been using it, including the Midwest Maidens roller derby team, the dog obedience class run by Liz Droke, and Brookings Futbol Club, which practices soccer there. Others use it for special events, open gym, a place for kids to run around, walking in the winter, and as a summer storm shelter.

“Each time there’s been a big storm … there’s been 30-40 people show up to use that space as a storm shelter,” said Lisa “Bomb-Diggity” Rathbun of the Midwest Maidens. “What do they plan on doing for a downtown storm shelter when they shut those doors?”

Brettschneider said how much the building gets used depends on the time of year. Most of the usage is evenings and weekends. Some groups, like the Futbol Club, use it when cold and snow make outdoor activities inadvisable if not impossible; they use it less than 10 hours a week. Droke’s dog classes usually met once a week for three hours. The Midwest Maidens use it three or four days a week pretty much year-round with breaks for the holidays. Parks and Rec host open gym two evenings a week from late October to March.

The facility has hosted entrepreneur events and birthday parties, but those are stand-alone activities.

“A group may call (to rent the place) here and there, but they’re not consistent at all, and not all that frequent,” Brettschneider said.

From late October to March, the Old Armory is used anywhere from 15 to 30 hours a week, including the open gym times, Brettschneider said. From April to late October, usage is “pretty minimal,” he said, with an average of six hours a week or less.

“Pretty much (just) the Maidens,” said Darren Hoff, recreation manager for Parks, Recreation & Forestry.

Nowhere to go

“We made these groups fully aware for a year-plus that there’s potential that the building may be closed for further evaluation,” Brettschneider said.

Even with the warning, finding another location has been proving tough, say the Maidens and Droke.

The Maidens have been around since the end of 2012 and always practiced at the Old Armory. Dog obedience classes have taken place at the Old Armory for 30 years, said Droke, who is the third instructor to utilize the facility. 

They are running into a three-pronged problem, say both Droke and the Maidens: they can’t find the size space they need for the right price that’s not already booked.

No place for dogs

The closing has affected Droke “significantly. As of right now, I have no other location to hold classes,” she said.

Droke, owner of Canine Training Solutions, has been instructing the dog obedience classes since 2007, taking over a well-established operation. 

Droke runs month-long training sessions back to back with breaks for the holidays. In the summer, she can train outdoors, but heat, rain and mosquitoes interfere with the learning.

“I’ll take puppies as young as 10 weeks,” Droke said, because she wants to get them started during the critical 8-12 weeks of age period and start exposing them to different people, dogs and new experiences. With nowhere to train, she’s missing an opportunity with those pups right now. 

Droke said the Parks and Rec people have been very good to work with her on scheduling, but the Old Armory is busy so many nights, it’s difficult to find more time, especially since she works a full-time job and her clients have kids and jobs of their own.

Droke has been looking for a new location, but the main problem she’s running into is space and price. She’d like a 100 by 100 space to have room for eight to 10 dog/owner teams with 6 to 8 feet between each team. She has to balance the price with her own expenses: utilities, insurance, and professional membership and the items she provides for her students.

In addition to lots of room, Droke would like an enclosed space with some heat for the winter months. 

“When you’re bundled up with gloves, it’s kind of hard to work leashes, work treats, play with a toy with the dog,” Droke said.

As long as the floor can tolerate dogs and is easy to clean in case of accidents, she’s open to it.  

“I’m struggling; what I have to offer people right now is private lessons,” Droke said. “We’re limited when I do in-home lessons.”

The dog classes at the Old Armory have had an impact on the community.

“I think we’ve had a significant impact. There’s a lot of owners and dogs that have gotten a good start in the Brookings area,” Droke said.

The four-legged youngsters aren’t the only ones benefiting from the Old Armory. Droke has noticed a lot of families bringing their kids to the Old Armory for open gym and other activities.

“Maybe that’s something that’s keeping them busy versus maybe they’re making some other not-so-good choices with their life and their time,” she said.

Fast track

“Nothing has quite fit as well for a practice space as the Armory,” said Moiria “Candy Insane” Curry.

Cost and availability are at the head of the list, the Maidens said. They play bouts at Larson Ice Center, but it’s only available to them from mid-July through mid-September. Their season actually starts in April and they play away bouts until Larson becomes available.

The Maidens need a space that’s at least 98 by 65 feet, but they’d be willing to compromise on the space a bit, as long as they are able to practice drills properly, Curry said.

Practice is paramount to keeping their skills sharp, being able to communicate and read teammates and keeping up their endurance.

“You would never ask a football team to just show up for football games,” Rathbun said.

They’ve been looking for a new facility, but they’ve been hearing “no” a lot. Sometimes it’s a scheduling problem: the facility is booked solid, or there’s an opening, but it’s during the day when most of the Maidens are working jobs. 

“We’re getting ‘no’s’ because of misconceptions, too,” Curry said.

One of the big ones centers on the floors. The surface isn’t really limited: the team can skate on wood, concrete or even asphalt, Curry said. The problem is people think the skates’ wheels will rip up their floors. 

They’re thinking of old-fashioned skates, which were “super, super, super hard,” Rathbun said. “None of the wheels that modern roller derby use is gonna hurt anybody’s floor.”

The wheels they use now are urethane and can be switched out, so skaters can use the right one based on the floor they’re on, Curry said. 

They do wear elbow and knee pads to protect themselves when they fall, Rathbun said. Those pads are hard plastic and could scratch floors, but the roller derby community has been aware of that for a while and says the pads can be wrapped with materials ranging from old gym socks to Teflon tape. 

They do put down tape to mark their track boundaries, but it’s painter’s tape, which doesn’t hurt floors, Rathbun said.

“We don’t want to come in and destroy your venue,” said Sara “Thug Unicorn” Fulton. “We will keep your venue in awesome condition so we can keep coming back.”

They’re used to doing a lot of work when they practice in the Old Armory. It’s an unspoken rule to bring towels; it’s well-known the Old Armory’s roof leaks and after a rain, water can be left standing on the floor. You can’t skate on wet floors.

Community-minded

The team is in its sixth year and feeling like they’re just gaining acceptance in the community. They pull in 100-150 fans per bout. The competing teams come from hours away, bringing their own fans. Often they stay in Brookings hotels and eat in Brookings restaurants, frequently on referral from the Maidens. 

“We’ve reserved blocks of hotels,” Curry said. “People use the campground.”

After-parties are in various local venues.

The Maidens hosted a boot camp in February 2017 to teach roller derby; it pulled in 60 participants from Nebraska, Minnesota, Iowa, North and South Dakota. 

Community is important to the Maidens, and they donate a lot of their proceeds.

“Last year, I think we donated $1,000 back into the community,” Curry said. 

They want to keep helping out, but to do that, they need to stay together as a team. To stay together as a team, they need a place to practice. 

“We’re gonna keep truckin’ no matter what,” Curry said. “We’ll do what we have to do to be able to bout next season.”

Contact Jodelle Greiner at jgreiner@brookingsregister.com.

Courtesy photo: The Midwest Maidens used the Old Armory for practice and other events like boot camp. Now that the Old Armory is closed to the public, the roller derby team is looking for a new place to practice.