Coach once pointed out a girl who 'skated just like him.' Now they’ll be the last to skate at Lloyd Center
As the iconic rink prepares to close, the teenage sweethearts returned to the ice one last time
For nearly six decades, the ice at Portland’s Lloyd Center was more than a skating rink for Jerry and Tally Leonard. It was where they first met, fell in love, and built a life together. Now, as the iconic rink prepares to close, the teenage sweethearts returned to the ice one last time on August 8, 2026. While the construction workers dismantled the mall, young people in cool dresses and baggy jeans glissaded across the rink; the aroma of pretzels and caramel corn filled the air, and people leaned over the railings to view the spectacle. Their last icy ballet inspired people across the globe, according to August 2026 reports by KATU 2 News and the Washington Post.
Love story that began in ice
Jerry and Tally first skated together at the Lloyd Center rink in 1967. At the time, Jerry used to skate in a local rink in Yakima, Washington, when one day, an out-of-town instructor told him that he needed to meet a girl who “skated just like him.” One day, Jerry traveled 185 miles south with his friends to meet the girl. Just as the instructor had said, the girl was a smooth skater. Her leg extensions and the way she held her body on the ice were quite alike. They were like two peas in a pod, and Jerry instantly felt that he had met someone special.
'Skating brought us together'
Every weekend after that, he would travel to the rink, and the two would skate together to The Turtles’ “Happy Together” or to The Rolling Stones’ “Ruby Tuesday.” Jerry worked odd jobs to pay the airfare. One round-trip ticket cost him $14.56. And they would spend hours and hours on ice after school. “Skating brought us together, and that's what we've enjoyed so much to do together,” Jerry recounted to KATU 2 News. As time went by, the two would be there four days a week nearly every week.
In 1970, the couple stepped away from competitive skating to attend college, but their relationship continued. They married in 1971. They opened a dental practice where Jerry worked on teeth while Tally served as his assistant. Over the years, they even went to compete at the US National Figure Skating Championships.
Dismantling of the iconic rink
When Lloyd Center first opened in 1960, it was the first mall to ever have an ice rink, per KOIN Portland. The mall had taken about 30 years to plan and cost roughly $100 million to build, with developers once billing it as the “largest shopping mall in the world,” per Oregon Public Broadcasting. The rink was surrounded by open-air pavilions, arched bridges, and terrazzo floors. But in 1991, the mall put a roof over the rink. Department stores started shutting down. Boom boxes went out of style. Wedding registries started happening online, and everything, including Macy’s and Nordstrom, closed. But Jerry and Tally kept coming for the skating. Recently, the City Council announced plans to dismantle the mall and transform the site into green space.
One final dance, decades in the making
Local skaters even petitioned to save the rink “for Jerry, Tally, and Portland,” but the appeal was rejected by the authorities. They declared that the mall, including the rink, would be permanently closed on Saturday at 7 pm. So the teen sweethearts arrived to perform their final dance on the same ice one last time.
With crowds cheering from the mall’s balustrades and glass railings and Celine Dion’s “Because You Loved Me” playing in the background, Jerry skated towards her. Tally looked up at him in his eyes; they clasped hands and began to skate. Although Tally’s muscle memory might have been weakened over the years, their dance ushered cheerful hoots from the viewers. They twisted their hips, glided across the ice, and Jerry wrapped his arms around her back, pecking kisses on her cheek. As the audience clapped, they bowed and exited the ice with a bouquet of red roses in hand.
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