Smithers Mayor Gladys Atrill went to look over the Smithers skate park expansion and ended up on a skateboard, getting a few lessons on the fly.
Phase one of the planned expansion has been moving right along and the Mayor has been giving regular updates on her Facebook page, so when she showed up for her latest look, skateboarder Ryder Euverman and Christy Sawchuk volunteered to give her a lesson.
“We all had a lot of fun, and we appreciate the Mayor’s continued interest, and willingness to jump on a skateboard and have some fun,” said Skate Park Society project manager, Sarah Fitzmaurice.
READ MORE: Smithers Skate Park expansion gains momentum
Smithers residents will continue to see construction into the fall of phase one of the expansion of the park, with site preparations for drainage, stripping and compacting the site, bringing materials used in the shape forming process, and clearing of hazards, like the cottonwood trees that were old and rotten and posing a risk to users of the park.
“The existing skate park was designed by young local skateboarders roughly 20 years ago, whereas the new one has been designed by one the world’s leading skate park design firms, Newline Skateparks, with over 20 years in operation, and looking at the designs and now the beginning of construction, just blows my mind how cool it will all be,” society chair Jason Krauskopf said.
The existing skate park is 525 square metres and the proposed skate park expansion is 1,080 square metres, so it more than doubles the existing footprint. The skate park expansion will allow six times the user capacity of the park.
“There will be more than one phase to the park, which allows for some exciting new ideas and opportunities and once people start envisioning what can be built there, the ideas are incredible for uses of all kinds,” Fitzmaurice said.
Now that construction has started and we have had so much traction and support from the community and businesses, the changes are visible, so the community can clearly see how big this project is, both Fitzmaurice and Krauskopf remarked.
“In the fall when they are ready to pour concrete, we will be ready,” a smiling Krauskopf said.
deb.meissner@interior-news.com
Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter
