The Final Skate: July 31

If Saturday night was a trial run of the last skating session, it's sure to be packed.

About 1,000 extra people showed up to skate thinking it was Cal Skate of Milpitas' last day of business. 

With the doors closed the the rink filled to capacity, there was a line outside circling the building that surprised even Kirby Cartez, a floor supervisor who has worked for the roller rink for about three decades.

"It was quite a few people," he said. About 700 people can skate inside comfortably, and on that night, there was hardly room to turn.

Glyn and Michelle Zeiler of San Jose saw the lines as they came out of the building with their grandchildren from an earlier skating session. The couple met at the roller rink for the first time in 1980 and married six years later.

"There were 20 of us. We would all dance together," said Michelle Zeiler, who grew up in Milpitas. 

"We met here and started rexing," she said. "We took dance classes here from Mr. Gato."

Their skate instructor, Art Gato, is expected to join the last skating session on July 31, scheduled for 6-10 p.m.

Owner Chris St. Germain, who runs the roller rink with her brother Trace, said she knows they probably won't be able to shut the doors exactly at 10 p.m.

After three decades in business, the skating rink will be demolished to make room for . Longtime employees have become family to the St. Germains. On top of everything, their father and Cal Skate of Milpitas founder, , died on May 12.

On Sunday night, the nostalgia was high.

"He was such a wonderful man," Vontrese Stevenson said of Ernie St. Germain. She grew up in Milpitas and skated from ages 8-17.

She drove from Modesto on Sunday to skate with her teenage daughter and "share the memories." 

"I haven't been here since I was little," she said.

She said met her first boyfriend at the rink as a fourth-grader at Randall Elementary. 

The sock dances, where they would dance to music on the rink floor in socks, kept her out of trouble as a teenager, she said.

Anna Engs of Fremont, now in her 70s, was on a pair of skates on Sunday night.

As a mom, she used to show up with a car full of children every Thursday night, she said. Her two sons were on the speed-skating team. Now she goes once a week with her granddaughter.

"We have a long history here," she said.

After decades of fundraising for the Milpitas Unified School District, the St. Germains are selling totebags and water bottles with the "Uncle Cal" mascot to benefit the public schools one last time.

"We've been able to give so much, and we're not going to be able to give anymore," said a teary-eyed Chris St. Germain. 

You don't have to wait until the very last day to skate. Cal Skate of Milpitas has skating sessions every day except Mondays for the remainder of July. Check out the calendar online.