Celebration for new skate park

Arvada will throw a grand party for its grand new skate park.

On Saturday, June 2, professional skaters, a DJ, vendors and city staff will be on hand for a ribbon cutting and day-long party to mark the culmination of more than five years of work in creating the $2.2-million park, located at 12920 W. 72nd Ave.

“We’ve been working for three months on this celebration,” said Brenda Berg, administrative and special events coordinator. She said the day will include professional skaters, including Andy MacDonald and Windsor James, doing demonstrations and signing autographs, a skate clinic and a Kid Zone for young children.

Among the vendors offering skateboard-related gear and equipment will be Vans, Volcom, Colorado Skateparks and Grind for Life, and food vendors will provide tasty treats. The event is doubling as a fund raiser, with shirts on sale, the proceeds of which will help with funding of the park. A limited, commemorative poster will be available, with the money going to Grind for Life, a nonprofit that provides financial support for cancer patients and their families who have to travel long distances for treatments.

Construction of the park was completed in late December 2011, and it was available for use in January, but there was still design and landscaping work to be completed before an official opening. The planning for the park goes back 10 years, according to Kim Grant, grants administrator. Its creation was largely driven by a local skatepark committee made up of community members who wanted a place to skate.

Emily Oliver, owner of Lovely Boutique in Arvada, was one of those skaters.

“It seemed like everyone around us was getting a really good park, so we approached the city to see if we could build a park,” she said. “We were super involved in the park, including the design and who built it.”

Grant said the goal for the park’s design was to avoid having just a sea of concrete, and so the city did significant landscape work at the skate park, creating a kind of park within a park.

“We wanted to make a place where people can comfortably hang out and enjoy skating,” he said. “It’s one of the largest parks in Colorado and one of the most innovative.”

Team Pain designed and built the skate elements, while DHM Design developed the master plan for the entire park, bringing the two aspects together. Urban Farmer did the landscape work. The park was 93 percent funded by grants from groups including Great Outdoors Colorado, Jefferson County Open Space, the Conservation Trust Fund and the Tony Hawk Foundation. The other 7 percent came from the city’s general fund. In addition to design and construction costs, money was also spent on basics including drainage, lights and electricity, and parking.

“It really rounds out the recreation department, and it’s where the future is,” Oliver said.

Skateboarding is a continually growing sport, and city staff said a great amount of thought was given to the design so that the park would be fun for beginners and professionals, and everyone in between.

“Everything was very well thought out,” said Mike Lee, manager of park and urban design. “Any changes that were made were made so it would be a great place to skate, for all skaters.”

For information on the opening celebration, go online to www.arvada.org/parks-and-recreation.