Editor’s note: This story, originally published in The Fayetteville Observer on Aug. 16, 2001, was written as part of the Observer’s summer series “On the Job.” In this installment, Round-A-Bout Skating Center employee Jermaine Cole, now Grammy Award-winning hip-hop artist J. Cole, talks about his experience as the Roller Roo mascot. Cole was 16 at the time this story was published.
When you’re Fayetteville’s premier party animal, you expect to put up with a few small problems.
Like not being able to see your feet or having children pull your hair out — or knowing that at any given moment your world can come crashing down with a thud on the hardwood.
But at least when that happens there’s a lot of high-quality cotton and Styrofoam to break the fall.
Roller Roo has a spot in the hearts of kids under the age of 12. He (and yes Roller Roo is a he) also has a permanent spot in the auxiliary bathroom of the Round-A-Bout Skating Center in Eutaw Shopping Center.
Most of the time he hangs around there with Party Panda and a threadbare turtle who looks suspiciously like a Ninja Turtle who’s seen better days.