Wheel-A-While Roller Rink (Site)

Today, the building has been renovated into a laser tag and escape room area.

Here follows an excerpt from the Spring 2014 edition of the "Franconia Legacies" newsletter published by the Franconia Museum:

Cher In Franconia
by Carl Sell

Cher’s appearance in early April of this year at the Verizon Center brought back memories for many Franconians of July 16, 1979 when the young performer came to roller skate at the Wheel-A-While facility located behind the gas stations near the McDonald’s and Edison High School. She had just finished a performance at the Kennedy Center and wanted to relax on her skates, something she often did when at home in Hollywood.

Her visit also was billed as a fund-raiser for UNICEF (United Nations Children’s Fund) and promoted by a local disk jockey. The word spread quickly and traffic on Franconia Road was at a standstill. Fans began arriving at 5:30 p.m. and by the time Cher arrived at 11:45 p.m. you couldn’t get near the rink. Inside was just as bad as fans jockeyed to get a glimpse of the young star.

“I’m going to get killed in that crowd,” Cher was quoted as saying in the Washington Post as she pulled on her tiger-striped skates in the rink office. She did join the throng and took one lap around the rink before announcing ”it wasn’t going to work” because “someone was going to get hurt.”

Lynne Haas Gomez, a current member of the Museum, recalls she and a friend tried to attend “but couldn’t get near the place.” They and hundreds of others were stuck in the parking lot of the rink and nearby businesses. Another young fan was quoted in the Post as saying that she just couldn’t believe Cher was roller skating in Franconia.

After all the hoopla was over and the crowd thinned, Cher went back to Washington to continue her six-night rock and roll extravaganza at the Kennedy Center. According to the promoters, a portion of the admission to the Franconia event, which drew a crowd of skaters and gawkers four times as large as usual, went to UNICEF.

Sonny Bono and Cher combined as a married couple for the highly popular Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour on television in the early 1970s. They separated in 1974 and were divorced a year later. Both went on to separate spectacular careers before reuniting for a resumption of the Sonny and Cher Show in 1976. But the magic was gone and the show folded the following year.

Bono went on to an acting career and entered politics, eventually becoming a member of the United States House of Representatives. Cher became a Grammy Award winning singer and won an Academy Award as an actress. She would give a tearful eulogy at Bono’s funeral after her former husband died in a skiing accident in 1998.

Cher, the former Cherilyn Sarkisan, was born May 20, 1947 in El Centro, California. She first met Bono, 11 years her senior, in 1962 at a Los Angeles coffee shop. The two became friends and eventually recorded the number-one hit single record “I Got You Babe” that catapulted them to instant fame. Later, Cher would do the same on her own with songs such as “Half Breed” and “Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves.” She became famous for her daring costumes and unusual outfits (or lack thereof) as well as her musical talent. Thirty-six years after that brief appearance on roller skates in Franconia, she remains a star.

Cher wasn’t the only famous performer to appear in Franconia. One of future Superstar Dolly Parton’s first appearances was with Porter Wagoner’s country music band at Edison High School on September 16, 1967, in a benefit for the Franconia Volunteer Fire Department. Earlier, country stars such as Roy Clarke, Grandpa Jones and others performed at the old Sylvia Theatre at Ward’s Corner on Franconia Road. Music stars such as singers Chubby Checker, Barry Darvell, Ronnie Dove and the Ink Spots, along with guitarist Link Wray, made cameo appearances at teen dances at the original fire department building. The Harlem Globetrotters played before an overflow crowd at Hayfield High School and the King and His Court four-man softball team packed them in at Edison.