Llamas and alpacas and emus! Oh, My!

Milledgeville locals own exotic animals as well as the Rocket Roller Rink

Llamas, alpacas and emus are just a few of the exotic animals you may see if you cruise by Poin Galloway’s farm on any given day. Galloway has even been known to take his animals around Milledgeville in a trailer he pulls behind his truck. Many have seen Galloway go through the Chick-fil-A drive-thru with an ostrich, that he sold only a few months ago, in tow.

Over the past 45 years Galloway’s farm has been the home to over 300 exotic animals. This passion for buying and raising exotic animals started on a trip he took to Virginia.

Bobbi Otis | gcsunade.com

Devona and Poin Galloway stand with their Alpaca, Squeaky. Squeaky is just one of the exotic animals owned by the Galloways. Aside from the Rocket Roller Rink in Milledgeville, the couple owns emus, llamas and alpacas.

Raise them he did. He even boasts that he had the biggest buffalo in the world.

“A man in Colorado asked me once how I knew I had the largest buffalo in the world. I said show me one bigger and I’ll say that I have the second biggest,” Galloway said. The buffalo weighed a hefty 2,740 pounds.

As his love for animals grew, so did his collection. In addition to the llamas, alpacas and emus, Galloway has miniature horses, a buffalo and two house dogs that he says he, “wouldn’t trade for the world.”

Galloway is the proud owner of many exotic animals as well as the Rocket Roller Rink located off Highway 441.

Galloway and his wife Devona Galloway have been in the roller rink business since July 11, 1970, when they opened the first Rocket Roller Rink across the street from the current Wendy’s on North Columbia Street.

The first Rocket Roller Rink was built by the Galloway’s themselves. Poin Galloway drew the blueprints and along with his wife constructed the facility from the ground up. This was the first roller rink in Milledgeville history.

The rink moved to its new location when they sold the land that the previous one was built on. Though the location changed, the business they were getting did not.

“We used to have one party room, now we’re up to five,” Devona Galloway said. Parties for Milledgeville residents are not the only thing for which the rink is rented.

The Georgia College Roller Hockey team practices there twice a week. Sororities often have socials and other functions at the rink.

“I went to the skating rink for a sisterhood skate night and it was fun to revisit my childhood by roller skating,” sophomore, pre-nursing major Emma Leone said.

Galloway was a Navy Seal and a deep sea diver from 1951 to 1955. He was in the Navy during the Korean War, and it was during this time that the love for skating rinks developed.

“During my time in the Navy, I never smoked or drank, so whenever we docked I would go to a skating rink. I said when I got out of the military I would open a skating rink because I loved it so much,” Galloway said. That is just what he did over 40 years ago.

After the Galloway’s arrived in Milledgeville in 1961, Poin Galloway has become well known throughout the community.

“I told my wife that I wanted to be the most famous person in Milledgeville,” Galloway said. With all the attention that his exotic animals and roller rink get, he is well on his way to winning that title.

Posted by Bobbi Otis on Jan 27 2011. Filed under Features, Lead stories. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.