The weather may have been dreary, but the rain did nothing to dampen the enthusiasm of a large group of children and teens that took to the ramps and obstacles of the Jacksonville Skateboard Park at the grand opening on Saturday.“All successful projects begin as a simple idea and progress with planning, hard work and dedication to their successful completion and our project here is no different. We took the simple idea of providing a skate park to our youth and with good, realistic planning, lots of hard work and dedication we have progressed to this day where we can now open our Jacksonville skate park,” said Councilman Jerry Parris during the grand opening ceremony.
Parris read off a list of those who helped to construct the equipment last week, then presented fellow councilman George Areno with a plaque, thanking him for his dedication to the skateboard park.
The park has a half pipe and quarter pipe attached together. The quarter pipe allows skateboarders to go from that ramp over a hubba to another quarter pipe. There are also several street obstacles, such as stairs a bench rail, a two-level manual pad and a round rail.
A sign is up at the park, mentioning and thanking the major contributors who made the park possible by raising the $20,000 the city of Jacksonville requested. The city then added in $45,000 and, when the bids for the equipment came in $12,000 over budget, the city covered that amount as well.
All they ask in return is that those who use the park take care of it and wear helmets.
The city is providing helmets at the Jacksonville Community Center for any skateboarders who don’t have proper safety equipment.
“Helmet’s are required. We’re going to enforce that, you’re going to wear them,” said Areno. “If you don’t have a helmet on and one of the park officials or the police are up here, they’re not going to let you skate. So, get your own helmets eventually and wear them.”
During the grand opening ceremony Fred Couch, founder of Skate Calhoun County and one of the driving forces behind the Jacksonville and Weaver skateboard parks, gave a brief history of them, then thanked his fellow Anniston Morning Rotary Club members and the businesses and individuals who donated money for the park’s construction.
The project began two years ago when Couch happened upon a young man skating outside his church. He talked with him and discovered a need for children in the area to have a safe place to play on their skateboards.
“I found out the best park to have is one that is in the city, one that is free to the kids and not have a fee, not have dues – something they can come to anytime,” said Couch.
Bo Batey, the recently retired director of Jacksonville’s Parks and Recreation Department, also shared part of the park’s history with the crowd – detailing how the equipment was chosen by a committee of skateboarders who looked over various options and chose obstacles and ramps appropriate for skaters of varying levels of experience.
“The important thing about this park is that it wasn’t just the mayor and the council and the rec department that did it, it was the county, the community and the kids that will be using the park that put it together. I think that’s going to make it special and it’s also going to make sure that they’re going to take pride in their park that they helped build. They’re going to take care of it and see that it is properly used,” said Batey.
As the park opening drew to a close, prizes were given out to three of the skateboarders. Cory Crosson received a rail, Chuck Campbell got a new skateboard and Mark Hester received skateboard trucks, which hold the wheels to the board. Wig’s Wheels donated all the prizes.
A skateboard deck designed and autographed by professional skateboarder Danny Way was also given away at the event. The autograph reads, “To the future skatepark. Skate parks are a great place for kids to be creative, athletic and responsible. Hope it’s a huge success.” Chances for the deck were sold as part of the park’s fund-raising efforts and Jimmy Pettus of Fun Wheels wound up with the winning ticket, bought on behalf of his son, Marcus.
