ISSA - International Slalom Skateboarding Association

It may not be much, but it's MINE!

This skatepark is being built in Veterans' Memorial Park, just outside of downtown Northhampton.




So far (as of nov 18th)....


Thought you guys might like to know.
---Oh and to keep it slalom related, avoid the traffic cones near Smith College. ;o)

SICK! I'll be up there skating it as soon as possible!

who's building it? is it Sloppy Sam and the Breaking Ground crew?

It should be finished in a few weeks. They SAY they will be opening "in the spring" but, I think the fence must be pretty high (or the snow pretty deep) to wait that long!
I'll keep everyone updated.


More:
[ Originally published on: Thursday, November 09, 2006 in the Daily Hampshire Gazette ]

NORTHAMPTON - This month, after more than a decade of organizing and fundraising, local skateboarders are seeing a dream come true.

Construction is under way on a public skateboard park at Veterans Field, located between South and West streets near downtown. Construction should be completed by December, with the park opening in the spring.

'Most, if not all, of the original skate park committee are in college now, or at least out of school; but most, if not all, still skateboard,' said Jeanne Hoose, a member of Skate Park in Northampton (SPIN), and mother of two boys who helped envision and raise money for the park.

Jason LeClair, owner of the Board Room skateboarding store on Armory Street, said members of SPIN learned a lot from studying other municipal skate parks around the region. The result is a park designed for skaters by skaters, he said.

'Without the proper design, it's not worth anything,' LeClair said.

The plans involve concrete surfaces which, while expensive, are more durable and permanent than other, lighter materials used in skate parks like Easthampton's, LeClair said.

It also involves a large bowl, modeled after the drained concrete pools where skateboarding's pioneers first developed their skills. LeClair said this feature will appeal to skateboarders of all ages.

Another section of the park is modeled after the city sidewalks now off limits to skateboarders - a setting geared more toward the teenage set. Here, skateboarders will be able to jump, indy, ollie and grind on steps, railings, benches - and even a 'hubba ledge.'

The park is being built by 'Sloppy Sam' Batterson of the Chicopee-based Mountainview Landscapes, who has created more than a dozen skate parks around the Northeast.

LeClair, now in his mid-30s, has advocated for a city skate park for close to 12 years. He and a group of friends first started thinking about a park after the city enacted a ban on sidewalk skateboarding.

'I think Northampton's been a good destination for kids to hang out,' he said. 'It's why I put my store here 15 years ago.'

He said the construction comes at just the right time, as police seem to be cracking down harder than ever before on skateboarders.

Sometimes their skateboards are taken away and exchanged for court dates, LeClair said. Other times, he said, skateboarders are just handed $20 to $25 tickets. Customers have even been warned by police for trying out merchandise on the sidewalk outside the Board Room, LeClair said.

To avoid trouble, Hoose said, a lot of young skateboarders ride on side streets or in their own driveways. But skateboarding is a social activity, she said, and there needs to be a place where riders can get together safely and legally.

'It's like any sport,' Hoose said. 'It's more fun if you've got the right equipment and you're with a lot of other people who are working on the same skills as you.'

SPIN, made up of dozens of local skateboarders and their parents, has raised about $50,000 to put toward the roughly $340,000 project.

Members of the group raised money with a can drive, bringing in close to $1,000 on Bag Day in 2002. They also sold T-shirts, bringing in another $900, and a calendar.

The group also partnered with the Hampshire Regional YMCA, which helped apply for grants and keep track of the project's finances, Hoose said.

Grants came in from Florence Savings Bank, Xerox, Tropicana and a foundation created by skateboarding superstar Tony Hawk.

Other funds came from the state Office of Environmental Affairs, the city and a community development block grant, according to Recreation Department Director Ann-Marie Moggio.

Moggio said details like the park's ground rules and capacity will be worked out over the winter.

'It would be a good problem if we had too many [skateboarders],' she said.

Moggio said some fundraising remains to be done to pay for things like benches and landscaping work around the new park.

The skate park is just one part of a larger project to revitalize Veterans Field. Moggio said the baseball diamond and soccer fields will be rebuilt after the skate park is finished, and should be open by the spring of 2008.

James F. Lowe can be reached at jlowe@gazettenet.com.

nice...Sam is really good at working wih locals and building parks...I have 3 of his parks near me though in truth I don't wander much from WRSP. He's also a perfectionist for concrete surfacing...baby's bottom smooth.

<img src="http://idisk.mac.com/parrish/Pictures/1536579881_l.jpg" border="0"> <img src="http://idisk.mac.com/parrish/Pictures/1537412914_l.jpg" border="0">


The walls are in, the bottom should be dry enough by the time you read this....

WHO'S READY???



Update: No bottom yet!

Tony Peters wrote:who's building it? is it Sloppy Sam and the Breaking Ground crew?

I think it's Mike Mulligan and his steam shovel...

Hey Dan,

Your new park looks great!! The big bowl looks quite deep.

The Lewiston, ME park opened last month. The pictures look sick.

Currently, I'm working with a N-F-P corporation to raise money for a concrete skatepark here in Portland, ME. The city donated the land and just approved $75,000 for the skatepark. We now have $85,000 for the future skateboard park.

The good news is we are working togather. As a result, I hope to introduce slalom racing in Maine by including a slalom race as part of a fundraising event for the skateboard park.
This group has the experience and connections with the city officials to obtain the permits etc... to get the streets closed for a race.

Take care.

...Finally
They thought that by leaving the pool bottom undone all winter that they could stop us from skating it.
Well, they were right. -Bastards!
Anyway, it's done now, complete with a hole in the fence. Two more weeks and no more fence.
Who's coming?

Hey Dan - I have a kayak race in Springfield June 9th. I'd love to check out that park on my way back to VT Saturday afternoon if you are around, maybe run some cones too?

Hey, Dan, I'd like to see your photos of the park, but I keep getting popup error messages asking me to log in to "idisk.mac.com," which is (I think) where they're posted. Anyone else having this problem?

Same prob here...even in the "Reply" window...strange.

Better????


Rick, I've gotta work that morning, usually till 1~ish. I was thinking of attempting the speedboard race in Ascutney that day, but maybe this was the universe's way of conspireing to keep me alive a bit longer. ;o)
Call me.

Well, kind of. But I still get those pop-ups. I think your Dec. 15 post still has a couple of pics in a similar location.

In the pics I *can* see, the park looks nice!