Articles
Grinding Out The Details
While there are many challenges in developing a public skatepark, a few common pitfalls can be easily avoided. Skating around these snares can help create the most popular recreation facility in town as quickly and efficiently as possible.
Modern Skateparks Are For Everyone
The short history of skateparks is complicated. The first parks were retail, pay-to-play, concrete landscapes in the 1970s.
Destination: Waterloo Park West
The city of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada, installed its only splash pad facility in the early 1990s on the east side of Waterloo Park. Called Lions Lagoon, the pad was constructed over a former outdoor pool.
Fearless Flyers Go Vertical
Redeveloping the northwest quadrant of Safety Harbor City Park in Pinellas County, Fla., to meet the needs of thrill-seeking skateboarders was no easy project. During the past four decades,
Another Name For A Skatepark
Have you ever thought of your city skatepark as more than just a place for “those kids” to hang out? In the 16 years since the Etnies Skatepark of Lake Forest opened in California, Community Services staff
SK8 Charleston
The skateboarding community of Charleston, S.C., had been advocating for a regional-sized skate park for decades. With few other skate parks available in the Lowcountry and new laws prohibiting skateboarding
A Simple Idea
Fort Smith, a city of approximately 88,000 people, sits along the Arkansas River and is best known for its historical attractions—the National Historic Site’s military exhibits and buildings, the Massard Prairie
Creating A Skatepark
As skateboarding gains speed and becomes more accepted throughout the United States, the number of skateparks has increased rapidly. Now that municipalities see that the sport is here to stay, many
Recycling Underutilized Sites
Once relegated with the label of “alternative sports,” BMX tracks, trails, and skateparks have become a worldwide phenomenon. Today, some of these facilities even host major
A Park With A Pulse
In the vast world of recreation, the Recreation and Park Commission for the Parish of East Baton Rouge (BREC) in Louisiana leads the pack in new and innovative ways to help the community remain
A “Re-Creation Of Recreation”
At a time when our nation has seen deep divides over race, a small city in North Carolina has worked to bring its community together despite all of the odds. Although Lexington city
Smooth Skating
In 2009, a group of local high school-aged skateboarding enthusiasts—frustrated by a lack of nearby skateboarding opportunities—lobbied their state delegate for funding to build a
Something For Everyone
Since 1997, team sports in America are in decline: basketball participation is down 17 percent, softball has dropped 37 percent, and volleyball has fallen 36 percent.
Grinding Out The Details
Skateparks are quickly becoming the darling of a city’s recreational needs, as opposed to 20 years ago when they were considered a frivolous waste of public funds. Why the change?
Practice Safe Skating
Skateboarding, rollerblading, and BMX biking are hazardous sports. According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, approximately 26,000 people are treated in hospital emergency rooms every year from action sports-related injuries.
Adrenaline Addicts Welcome
With the advent of popular TV shows like ARROW and movies like The Hunger Games, it was only a matter of time before extreme sports like archery hit the mainstream.
Don't Build It And Leave It
Since the revitalization of skateboarding in the late 1990s, parks and recreation agencies across the country have been striving to provide free outdoor action-sports complexes.
Gaining Momentum
Photo Courtesy of American Ramp CompanyMany marvel at the fact that you don't even have to pedal to make it around the track. In fact, it defies logic as well as the nameСthe pump track.ТThey just ke
In The Flow
If you were to visit Snyderville Basin Recreation District in Park City, Utah, you would find a bike-skills park, flow trail, pump track, and slopestyle trail, all unsupervised, wide-open, and
Feeling Minnesota
Minnesota is known for its skates, at least those of the ice variety. Many Minnesota natives ice skate before they walk.Perhaps an outgrowth of this Born to Skate tradition is the relatively recent