Five years after throwing their first pop-up skate night, Frankie Toan and Therin Zimmerman are opening the doors to a permanent home for Rainbow Dome, a queer-centric roller rink on Denver's westside. The 29,000-square-foot venue at 1660 N. Federal Boulevard in the Sun Valley neighborhood opens to the public on Friday, and advance tickets for the 6 p.m. opening night are already sold out, though a limited number will be available at the door.
Toan and Zimmerman, who have been friends for 10 years, began hosting pop-up skate nights in 2021 and spent years building a community of supporters through dozens of events before landing a permanent space, according to Denverite. The $10 million project transformed a former Ponce furniture store and subterranean mechanic shop into a space with a roller rink, lounge, private-party room, gender-neutral bathrooms and a low-sensory room, the outlet reports. The property at 1660 Federal Boulevard sold for $6.25 million to an LLC associated with Toan, per the same account.
Neither founder knew how to skate when they started the project — both learned along the way while developing Rainbow Dome, Denverite notes. The finished rink features wooden skating floors, neon-patterned carpet, a disco ball and party lights, giving the space the retro-meets-art-installation feel that has defined the project since its earliest pop-ups.
Funding Stitched Together From State, Philanthropic and Community Sources
Getting to opening night required piecing together financing from multiple directions. In July, the State of Colorado awarded Rainbow Dome a $686,000 Colorado Community Revitalization Tax Credit to help transform the Sun Valley location into an alcohol-free LGBTQ+ venue with a lower-level roller rink and upper-level creative workspace, according to the Office of Governor Jared Polis. The space also includes art and theatrical-design elements.
Denverite's report lists additional support from investors, the Colorado Community Revitalization tax credit, crowdfunding and Gates Family Foundation grants. Rainbow Dome also had a public crowdfunding campaign with a $1 million goal, as part of a $10 million project.
Deep Roots in Denver's Immersive Art Scene
Toan and Zimmerman first met six years before that 2021 Denverite profile through the Secret Love Collective art installation, and both had previously worked as collaborating artists for Meow Wolf Denver's Convergence Station.
That artistic pedigree showed up early in Rainbow Dome's pop-up programming. In early 2022, Rainbow Dome's monthly zodiac-themed “Oh My Stars!” pop-up skate nights featured local DJs and interactive art installations.
Rainbow Dome also tested its model outside Denver proper. In 2025, the project partnered with Adams County to co-host a mobile roller rink and performance space at the county's annual Pride Festival inside the Waymire Dome, according to Rainbow Dome's own account of its history.
Governance, Staffing and a Packed Weekly Schedule
Toan and Zimmerman run Rainbow Dome using a sociocracy governance system based on shared consent rather than majority voting, per Denverite's reporting. The venue now employs nine full-time and four part-time staff members. Once open, Rainbow Dome will operate Thursdays from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m., Fridays from 5 p.m. to midnight, Saturdays from 10 a.m. to midnight and Sundays from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., with private rentals available during and outside those hours.
The founders have said the mission extends beyond the rink floor. Toan said queer community deserves long-lasting space, and that Rainbow Dome aims to be sustainable for the community, its workers and its founders, according to Denverite. Rainbow Dome also plans to rent out the upper portion of the building to groups with similar values, giving the venue a second life as creative workspace beyond skate nights. Zimmerman has described an “art crush” as someone whose art you really like and may want to be friends with — a sensibility that has shaped the venue's ongoing collaborations with other artists.
A Neighborhood in the Middle of Its Own Transformation
Rainbow Dome's arrival lands squarely inside one of Denver's largest urban redevelopment efforts. The Denver Housing Authority's ongoing Sun Valley redevelopment master plan, backed by a $30 million federal Choice Neighborhoods grant, is replacing 333 aging public housing units with 940 new homes and developing additional land for 500–800 more homes, for a total of 1,440–1,740 homes, and an 11-acre riverfront park along the South Platte River, according to the Denver Housing Authority. Before that effort began, Sun Valley was one of Denver's lowest-income neighborhoods, with more than 80% of residents living below the poverty line and 94% of the neighborhood's housing market subsidized, the authority reports.
Alayna Shaw said community conversations inform Rainbow Dome's future, feedback and iterations, according to Denverite, pointing to a community session the venue held in Sun Valley in late September. That kind of ongoing input sits at the center of a broader question raised around the opening: how a sober, inclusive queer gathering space fits into a historically poor district now undergoing rapid, investment-heavy change.
