Rhino's Rocks Reopening

While Bloomington is home to a variety of bars, there is one club that provides something that bars in particular can't -- an all-ages venue. For those who don't have the age to match their grown-up good looks and good taste, there is Rhino's. But not the Rhino's we all knew and loved -- this past Saturday marked the youth center's grand reopening at its new building, the former Army Recruitment Center at 325 S. Walnut Ave.\nSahar Pastel-Danshgar, a sophomore at Bloomington High School North, was there for the all-day event.\n"I'm here to support Rhino's because I love it," Pastel-Daneshgar said. "It's a place to hang out and keeps you busy and out of the doldrums of being bored at home."\nPastel-Daneshgar, who spends at least three nights a week at Rhino's participating in its after-school programs, said she helped clean up for Saturday's show.\n"It was barely ready," she said. "There aren't even stalls up in the bathrooms yet," she said. "We swept sawdust for almost 45 minutes before the first band played."\nThe youth center is a division of Harmony alternative school and is sponsored by the City of Bloomington Parks and Recreation Department and the United Way of Monroe County. It needed more space with the continuous advent of its youth programs, said Bob Nugent, assistant director and booking agent at Rhino's. He stressed that the move had much to do with the space needed for the work Rhino's does for the community, including its after-school programs in radio, video, journalism and mural arts.\n"We started looking for a new building months ago," Nugent said. "We eventually decided to just stay put and renovate the old South Walnut Street Army Recruitment Center."\nIn addition, the venue will be able to host bigger shows on weekends. A sell-out show will total 440 people as opposed to 180 in the old building, and Rhino's patrons know what that means.\n"The change of location will attract bigger bands," said Cory Duncan, a senior at Bloomington High School South. "The more people that show up, the more revenue there'll be to pay the bigger bands. And if nothing else, the new sound system's a lot better and there's more space to rock out."\nTwelve local youth bands played at the $10-per-person event Saturday and a benefit compilation album featuring Rhino's bands was also sold. Saturday's crowd was overwhelmingly teenagers but the club normally attracts a healthy dose of IU students as well.\n"We never have problems with kids and the mix between ages, even though they range from 13 to mid-twenties," Nugent said. "Everyone knows and respects what people have done before them -- they know what this place stands for"