Wednesday evening I attended what I’m going to call a Fort St. John Skateboard Park Committee meeting at the Fort St John City Hall. The reason for this committee is because there is a group of people in this town that are advocating for a new skateboard park, as the old one is now 10 years old and has several issues.
The group is being headed up by Adam Kirschner, a veteran skater and life long Fort St Johner. He has rallied together not only many of the local skaters and bikers, but also community members and business owners like Brent, Andrew and myself.
Adam hopes that by building up this group, getting charitable status and collecting donations from local businesses, the group will be able to approach the City about getting the proposed new land and some money to help fund the project. So currently the group is meeting every two weeks to get details figured out. Details like a website, communications, design ideas, statements etc. Below I mention some of the topics brought up during this past meeting.
The Old Park Problems
What I gather about the current park in Fort St John is it is to small for the number of people who use it on a daily basis. It also is becoming a safety hazard as it has many cracks in the concrete.
Potentially from the communities view point the skatepark is a place where mischief happens, which is true, but it is not done by those who actually bike or skateboard at the park. This is being done by lowlifes, who want to do nothing but smoke, drink and cause havac.
Potential Solutions
Although in the early stages, many solutions were talked about for the new park. As it will be a new park the issue of the cracks in the concrete will be taken care. Design is also a big factor in making sure the park can accommodate all those who wish to use it. Size is one aspect but making sure the park flows properly for all who use it is also a big part of the how it should be designed, which is why a company like NEWLINE Skateparks will be consulted to design the new park.
The location is proposed to be in a very central area of town with high visibly from all angles to detour any riff raff from hanging out at the park and causing problems.
From this Point
At this point there is still a lot of little details that need to be ironed out before a big push can happen. Specifically a charitable status so the group can accept donations. Proper brand also needs to be done, this includes building the website, get flyers out, developing the mission/vision statement and so on.
Finally I will leave you with why I am taking part in this group even though I don’t use the park. There are a few reasons actually. The first is because I want to be more of a contributor to the community and help in the ways I can. I’m particularly interested in helping out in this group because I have somewhat of a background in this area, which leads me to my second reason. In Yellowknife, because I have a brother passionate about skateboarding, I briefly helped out with a skateboarding movement there. It is actually a skateboarding ministry that helps show the community that skateboarding can be positive and they are also hoping to build a new park for Yellowknife in the future.
I will leave you with that. If you think you can help or have a question for me, hit me up through my Contact Page and be sure to “Like” the page on Facebook.
