On a roll: local interest in skateboarding keeps growingDate: 5/25/2021 WESTERN MASS. – According to Dan Dziuban of Westfield, owner of Theory Skate and Snow in Northampton and Holyoke, skateboarding is riding a five-year wave in increasing popularity. With skateboarding set to debut in the Tokyo 2021 Olympic Games, “it’s going to explode,” he said.
“We were on this rise before COVID, before the get-outside movement. With the buildup to the Olympics, there is a lot of kick talk – people posting videos of themselves learning,” Dziuban said.
Now, Dziuban and avid skateboarder Jeff Burke, who grew up in Westfield, are involved in helping some of the cities and towns in Western Massachusetts with their plans for skateboard parks. “We can help funnel information, that’s our expertise. We’ve been to over 100 skate parks, and built five skate parks, plus our own,” Dziuban said.
“I grew up super involved in the Western Mass. skateboarding community,” said Burke, who now lives in Quincy and works in financial services. When he and his wife moved to Quincy in 2016, he got involved in the planning for a park there, serving as a liaison between the city and designer and skateboard companies. The $500,000 park was completed in 2020.
“They wanted to build a knockout park. It’s not the going rate; you can go as big or as small as you want. A lot of towns are creating areas in parks where it’s legal to skateboard and you won’t get ticketed,” Burke said.
Burke and Dziuban want to help more communities to get on board. “The overall idea behind this is New England is way behind the rest of the country when it comes to skateboard parks,” Burke said.
On the 2021 USA Skateboarding team, for example, there is only one athlete from New England, Alexis Sablone, a 32-year-old street skater originally from Old Saybrook, CT, who has seven X-Games medals under her belt. She also has a master’s degree in architecture from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
The only other athlete from the northeast is men’s street skater Maurio McCoy from Reading, PA. All the other USA team skaters are from California, Florida, Arizona, Hawaii, New Mexico, and Texas. All of them still have competitions remaining before they qualify to skate in the Tokyo Olympics, which starts on July 23.
“Female participation is huge right now,” Dziuban said. “Skateboarding seems to be more popular than ever. It’s a combination of the Olympics, people bored with video games, and COVID pushing people outdoors. I’ve been skateboarding for 35 years. It’s something you can do with yourself or friends. People don’t realize how often these people are skateboarding. My son is 15, and totally loves it,” he added.
Dziuban said towns in Western Mass. are starting to take note. “Towns that have skate parks are adding on to them, towns that don’t have them are building parks,” he said.
Westfield
Burke and Dziuban have started to meet with the Parks & Recreation Commission about upgrading Westfield’s skatepark, which was built 20 years ago. “At the time, it was ahead of the curve, now it’s obsolete,” Dziuban said.
Burke, who first approached Parks & Rec. in February, said Westfield’s skate park, unlike others in New England, got a real skateboard design, but corners were cut when they poured the concrete. Now, he said, it’s not safe.
“It’s a rough park for beginners. There’s nothing approachable if it’s the first day on a skateboard, and it is not a safe place to learn. If you’re not getting beginners there, you’re not getting any legacy users and attendance is low,” Burke said. He said people in the area go to the Westfield skate park only out of necessity, because that’s all they have.
Burke told the committee that Westfield should redo its skate park, because anybody can be involved in skateboarding. “Teens are a generation left behind. A skate park provides a safe place for teens to congregate and socialize together,” Burke said, adding that it also supports local business when families travel to a skate park and spend more time in town.
Dziuban said he’s run a skateboard camp in Westfield for years but moved it from the skate park to a municipal playground three years ago, bringing portable ramps with him, because of the condition of the park. Last summer the camp, which takes place the third week in July, drew almost 40 kids.
Burke mentioned potential funding sources for a new park, including Community Preservation Act funds, which he said are being used for skate parks in Braintree, Sandwich, North Adams, and Easthampton. Other potential sources include local taxes on marijuana and hotels and meals taxes.
“Grants are huge. The Tony Hawk Foundation provides matching grants of up to $50,000, and is supportive of the project,” Burke said.
Parks & Rec Commission Chair Michael Tirrell said he was in favor of the project and would love to see the feasibility of building the new skate park at the existing location in Amelia Park.
After the motion to support the project passed at the April meeting, Jim Blascak and Scott Hathaway of Parks & Rec said they would explore options with Burke and Dziuban and get back to the commission in the next month or two.
Dziuban said a new park could potentially draw 400 to 500 people a week and could be a financial kickback for the town. “Westfield could have the best skate park around. It could help local businesses,” Dziuban said, adding, “I’m going to try to work with all the local businesses to try to raise money.”
Agawam
According to Dziuban, Agawam has the most popular skate park in Western Mass. “Everyone goes to Agawam,” he said, adding that the park draws 100 to 150 skaters every day.
The park, which was built in three phases, is mostly wooden with some cement features, and Dziuban said they were talking about a brand new park.
“We have had minor discussions about a new park but with the state of the pandemic and the budget, everything has been temporarily put on hold so there are no official plans yet except knowing the park will need to be updated within the next five years,” said Chris Sparks of Agawam Parks & Rec.
Easthampton
An initiative to implement a skatepark in Easthampton has been in the works since October of 2019, according to Angie Falkowski-the leader of the Easthampton Skatepark project.
Falkowski and four other members of the Easthampton Skatepark organization continue to meet with Mayor Nicole LaChapelle and other town officials to discuss possible funding and location for the park.
"Mayor LaChapelle is completely on board with the skate park, but she is just requesting to have more community outreach,” said Falkowski.
To spread awareness and raise money, Falkowski and the organizers have been hosting benefits to get people interested in a skate park.
A couple of weeks ago, the organizers conducted a benefit at Fort Hill Brewery that collectively raised $3,750 in donations and beer sales.
“We have a charity fund open through the city so people can make donations,” said Falkowski. “As of right now, we don’t have a location.”
Despite this, Falkowski said that the organizers may consider adding a skate park at the new Mountain View School. “We don’t want to have something that can’t be accessed frequently.”
Falkowski believes that a skate park would very much compliment Easthampton’s amenities, and bring people of all diversities together.
“[A skate park] is good for people of all ages, but especially children who don’t really fit into team-oriented sports,” said Falkowski. “It’s another option to stay active, especially during this pandemic.”
Falkowski said she is friends with Dziuban and business partner Frank Langone at Theory Skate Shop, and they run a skate camp every year that helps children learn how to skateboard for a week.
She added that Easthampton could do something similar if they have a skate park.
“We have talked to a lot of residents who are excited about the project,” said Falkowski, who added that many people signed a petition to show interest in the park, “A lot of people have expressed that a skate park would be beneficial.”
People can visit the Easthampton Skatepark Facebook page to learn more about updates on the skate park: https://www.facebook.com/easthamptonskatepark.
Longmeadow
Dziuban is on the committee for a skate park in Longmeadow. which has met five times, and recently put out a request for proposal for a feasibility study on the park.
Springfield
In early 2020, Springfield announced that it was considering potential sites and funding resources for a bike and skateboard park.
The goal of this park would be to stop teens from riding bikes illegally and dangerously on public streets and giving them a safe place to go instead.
There have been conceptual plans put forth by the city which show possible locations near the Springfield Boys and Girls Club on Carew Street or in Greenleaf Park off of Parker Street in Sixteen Acres.
To begin the project, the city said that they needed to hire a design consultant and receive more public input.
“Ironically we’re in negotiations with a designer now for a skate park in Springfield,” said Springfield Parks Director Patrick Sullivan. “So I might have better information in a week or two of our process that we’re going through currently to do a design study on this topic.”
If built, the park would not allow dirt bikes or other motorized vehicles.
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