Shaun Pattison was less than a year old when mom and dad laced up his first set of roller skates.

“It’s kind of like a rite of passage … all of the babies in our family start skating before they start walking,” Pattison said.

A champion speed skater who scored multiple awards for his finesse on four wheels, Pattison is now owner of two local skating rinks. It’s a position he holds with high honor. His parents met at the family’s north Spokane skating rink, and his adult kids still work there each summer.

The wheels of this heartfelt tradition roll back decades.

It all started in the 1930s when Shaun’s great-grandfather, Weston Betts, entered the skate business. After a 1951 fire destroyed the family rink south of Seattle, Shaun’s grandparents, Pat and Evelyn migrated east to Spokane and opened Pattison’s North. In 1974, Shaun’s aunt Bobbie and her husband Ben Winkler, took over. When the Winklers decided to retire in 2006, they received several offers from investors  who wanted to tear down the skating rink and redevelop the property. They ultimately sold the business to Shaun and his wife, Jericho, just to keep that lengthy family legacy alive and spinning.

Pattison’s North is now celebrating 75 years of operation in Spokane.

In a toast to this historic milestone, Shaun and Jericho Pattison recently purchased and renovated the former Roller Valley skating rink. The deal was a collaboration of multiple business owners with a similar vision.

“The previous owner reached out to us and asked if we’d be interested in buying and their biggest request was that it stays as a rink,” Pattison said. “They didn’t want it to be turned into a warehouse or something along those lines.”

Upgrades for the new rink were completed in early August.

“We did it in six weeks. It took a couple of years off my life. During all of that we had the fires. We were evacuated out of our house. We were living in a hotel for a week,” Pattison said.

His biggest expense was resurfacing that enormous wooden skate floor.

“We spent about $70,000 refurbishing it, getting its luster back … that was a big number.”

Pattison did not take lightly the decision to expand operations, but said the Spokane skate culture is booming.

“Skating is as popular as ever. Our numbers … they’re equivalent to what they were in the ’80s, ’70s.” It’s a phenomena he partly attributes to celebrities and influencers who post skate videos on social media. “It’s kind of an in-vogue thing right now.”

Pattison said roller skating transports families to a happy place.

“It’s something that parents like bringing their kids to do, because it’s something they did as a kid and so it’s kind of that tradition thing. Honestly, that’s the best part of our job is when we get to see like mom and dad or maybe ( just) dad out skating with his 8-year-old daughter and they’re both laughing and having fun,” Pattison said.

Both rinks offer birthday party packages and school skate sessions along with an in-house pro shop.

“We service everything that we sell too which is very uncommon nowadays,” Pattison said.

Another big draw? Adult-only skate nights.

“A lot of people have a misconception that roller skating is for kids.

The adult crowd is probably our biggest-growing demographic. If I ran it seven days a week, a lot of these guys would be here seven days a week.

They’re completely hooked,” Pattison said.

Adult nights boast a live DJ and are open to skaters 18 and older .

“It’s all walks. You’ve got doctors.

You’ve got people that are definitely at the other end of the spectrum. It’s kind of old-school America. Nobody really cares what you do for work, where you go to church or any of your beliefs outside of skating, but once they’re in skating, they’re just all buddies,” he said.

A grand opening celebration was recently held at the Valley rink.

“It went off very well. The response was phenomenal,” Pattison said.

As the family expands its skating story, Pattison hopes to replicate that magical formula which has made his North Side rink a recognized name in the Spokane area for 75 years.

“The Valley has a pretty good skate community already. I feel if we offer a clean, safe environment at a good value the people will come.”

Cynthia Reugh can be reached at cynthia13048@gmail.com.

IF YOU GO

Pattison’s Valley Skate

WHERE: 9415 E. Fourth Ave., Spokane Valley

SKATE SESSIONS: Admission is $12 ($10, with skate rental Tuesdays, 6-8 p.m.), skate rental is $3, in-line or speed quad rental is $4, skate trainer rental is $4. Session schedule available at pattisonsvalleyskate.com.

INFO: (509) 466-2832 or info@ pattisonsvalleyskate.com

ALSO: For information about Pattison’s North, visit pattisonsnorth.com.