The Skate Park is open!

Last Wednesday we officially opened the new Skate Park.

I love the fact that the idea for this park started with teens in our community. They decided they wanted a skate park. They organized collected signatures (1500), raised money, and petitioned the city council. They wanted a Skate Park! In 2009, as a result of this grassroots effort, the city adopted a revised Master Plan for our park system that included a skate park.

The hunt was on to find ways to pay the $600,000.00 price tag. In 2011 the city applied for an Oregon parks grant through the state and was turned down. In 2017, with a newly constituted City Council and additional interest from the community, we tried again to get the grant. This time we were successful, a project was defined, and contractors were selected. The park was designed by Mears Design Group and Dreamland Skate Parks. Dreamland was also the general contractor on the project. Our Public Works department managed the project and got it across the finish line.

Our new park has 12,000 square feet of the skateable surface and is the first new park built in the region in the last 12 years.

I would like to thank the community, the teens that worked so hard to promote the concept, the contractors, and staff for making this a reality! What a great addition to our park system.