Just about any local older than 50 remembers strapping on skates and taking a few spins around the big, concrete floor at the Caveland roller rink in Festus.
From 1960 to 1985, local entrepreneur Sue Morris ran the rink, which featured concerts and events, as well as skating sessions.
Front of Caveland when it operated as a roller rink.
It sat vacant for a while but eventually was used for other business ventures and then a private residence.
The property now has a new owner, Jason LiCavoli, a new life as a short-term rental and party space, available through AirBnB and other online platforms.
Last fall LiCavoli bought the property at 215 Cave Drive in Festus, just a few blocks south of the shopping complex that includes Goodwill Industries and the Twin City License Office. The 15,000-square-foot cave includes a 3-bedroom, 1-bathroom living area in the front of its three chambers. A small performance stage occupies the middle chamber, and the rear chamber holds the former skating rink floor with its own stage. The property includes unpaved parking for about 50 cars, a picturesque, wooded box canyon and a small pond.
LiCavoli said he’s been besieged with inquiries about what he plans to do with the iconic property, with many people hoping for a revival of its former uses to welcome a new generation of roller skaters and concertgoers.
“I would love to restore it to its former glory, but I just don’t know if that is feasible,” he said. “As cool as the place is itself, the logistics have to be considered.
“Right now, it’s a house, like a lot of others on AirBnB. If we could do something bigger and better, that would be great, but that’s a way-in-the-future kind of idea, and a lot of things would have to happen to make it achievable.”
Rocking out within rock walls
In the 1800s, the Missouri Silica Sand Co. used dynamite to blast holes in the face of the sandstone bluff on the north end of Festus, hauling the resulting sand off to the Pittsburgh Plate Glass plant in Crystal City and other places. Once mining stopped, the cave was used as a mushroom farm and to raise fishing worms.
Sue and Roland Morris purchased the property in 1948 and installed a 208-foot-long concrete floor in the back chamber. It opened as the Caveland roller rink and concert venue in the late 1950s. Complete with concession stand, stage and balcony, the venue was a popular gathering place for young people for more than 25 years.
The back chamber of the cave holds a 200-foot-long concrete rink surface. During the rink’s heyday, there were wooden guard rails along the walls and a stage at the far end, against the back wall of the cave.
Nationally known artists like Ike and Tina Turner, Bob Seger, Ted Nugent and Charlie Daniels played there, as well as local bands like Bob Kuban, Mainline (later Gibraltar) and Savage Tenderness.
After Sue Morris retired in 1985, the rink closed and the cave sat idle for some years before being cleaned out and used briefly as a recycling facility in the 1990s. It changed hands several times over the following years, then was purchased by William Curtis Sleeper in 2004 and turned into a private residence, where he and his family lived for more than a decade. He enclosed the front section of the cave, adding about 5,000 square feet of space to the habitable area.
LiCavoli, 47, is a Mehlville native who lives in St. Louis County with his wife, Erin, and their four young children. He purchased the cave in September 2023.
“I love that space. I feel like a little kid when I go in there. It’s so much fun,” he said. “I’ve been talking to Curt (Sleeper) for like seven years. I kept saying, ‘When you’re ready, man, whenever you’re ready,’ and I guess he finally was.”
LiCavoli declined to say what he paid, but the Zillow online realty site estimates the property’s market at about $300,000.
Since LiCavoli bought the property, a few events have been held in the cave, such as a children’s party in December, a baby shower in January and a Super Bowl party earlier this month.
LiCavoli said he gets help running the Caveland property from his neighbors, Paul and Peggy Parris.
“They’ve been really helpful, for example showing people around when I can’t be here,” he said. A friend, Karen Stockley, helps run the Caveland Project Facebook page, which has amassed more than 4,000 members in the few months of its existence.
Like the old days – on a smaller scale
LiCavoli is still in the process of setting up booking software and finalizing contracts and other details.
“I have 12 short-term rental units in St. Louis,” he said. “This will be basically the same business model – except none of the others is in a cave, of course!
“It’s zoned multi-family residential, and capacity is 65 at the moment. That’s the most I’m comfortable with having in the space. Look; it’s not going to be a 500-person venue; it’s a residential home that sleeps six. But there’s room to have the kind of small, intimate events you’d typically have at your home. Say you are having a wedding, and you want a place to put up out-of-town family. Or like staycations or other family gatherings – we’re really excited about it.”
The Caveland Roller Rink operated inside the cave for more than 25 years. The front chamber of the cave now contains a three-bedroom home.
Overnight rates will range from $299 to $799, depending on day of the week and season of the year, with summers and holidays falling at the higher end and midweek stays on the lower end, LiCavoli said.
For small events, hourly rates will be in the $75-$99 per hour range, he said.
“Things like a birthday party or a baby shower, for example,” he said.
The Caveland Project offers no auxiliary event services like catering or DJ service, partly to keep costs down.
“You are free to contract those services during your stay, the same way you’d do at your own house,” LiCavoli said. “I hope it can be a destination venue. If you want to have 50 friends over to hear your band, or to roller skate, you definitely could. That’s what I’m envisioning, a smaller version of the old days.”
LiCavoli said running a business inside a cave has its challenges, thanks to Mother Nature.
“The temperature stays around 65 degrees, year-round,” he said. “And that’s great. But the humidity is so high, I have to run three huge dehumidifiers. And there is sand everywhere, which bothers me a little because I’m pretty meticulous about keeping the place clean.”
LiCavoli said the Caveland Project may be more developed in the future, depending on the needs of his clients.
“I’m still exploring who my audience is. I think half the business will come from locals,” he said. “At some point, if I could do big, crazy things, it would be great. But the cost of all the things I’d have to do – permits, insurance, more sprinklers – would be just too prohibitive. Also, I want to make sure I’m a good neighbor and a good steward of this property. I’m going to grow slowly, but if there’s an appetite for more, well, we’ll see.”
LiCavoli said his website is set to go live within the next 30 days or so at CavelandUSA.com.
“Once we are on the internet, you’ll be able to book through AirBnB, VRBO and other online platforms,” he said. “For now, you should check out the Caveland Project page on Facebook.”