Wheels in motion on skatepark of dreams

'Build it, they will come'

Don Fraser
The Standard; with files from Peter Downs April 15, 2002

Staff Photo by Don Fraser / (Sheena) Dumoulin

Staff Photo by Don Fraser / Skateboarders and in-line skaters make use of Grimsby's skateboard park Sunday. St. Catharines city council recently threw its support behind the construction of such a park in St. Catharines.

Inside a wedge of land nuzzling the QEW lies an oasis of concrete for west Niagara's fans of skateboarding, biking and in-line skating.

Despite Sunday's fog and drizzle, Grimsby's skateboard park resembles choreographed chaos on wheels.

But look closer and there's order to the melee -- the 30 mostly teenaged boys kickflip and jump inches from each other without colliding.

If local enthusiasts get their way, St. Catharines may soon join Grimsby as an outdoor haven for tricks on wheels, luring teens away from parking garages and shopping mall steps

"If they build it, they will come," said skateboarder Chris Falardeau.

"I think it would be the best thing for kids in St. Catharines," he said, cheekily. "It would keep them out of trouble."

While some are concerned about safety in skateparks, Falardeau said there's an understanding about how far a skater can safely go in a skatepark.

"If you've got a trick you've got down every time, you stick to it," said Falardeau, 19, of Welland.

"It's not about getting hurt," he said. "It's really an art and you express yourself through it."

Beside him, Sheena Dumoulin, 13, anchored the sole contingent of girls at the park. She and two friends were quietly observing the action from the sidelines. "We've tried to skate, but there's too much falling," explained Dumoulin.

Skaters and BMX bikers were almost unanimous in their praise of the park, which lies on the east side of Christie Street and south of the QEW ramp.

"It's got stuff for every different type of skater and for all styles," said Justin Paddock, 14, of Stoney Creek.

And it beats getting hassled by police and security guards when they skate downtown.

"All the kids in Grimsby had been trying to get a skatepark for 15 years, but Grimsby just passed it off as a fad," said Tyler Siska, from Grimsby, one of the more accomplished skaters of the bunch.

Others had some suggestions for St. Catharines skatepark organizers based on the Grimsby experience.

Make sure the edges at the concrete lips are angled sharply enough for extra kick, said one. Some of the features, like an impossibly high concrete step, don't make sense, said another.

The 743-square-metre (8,000-square-foot) park itself might be too compact and there should be places to sit, said two boys.

The skatepark had been in the planning stages and was finished last December. It cost the town about $200,000.

"It's worked out quite well," said Bruce Atkinson, Grimsby's manager of operations. "There was no grand opening, no advertising required. All of a sudden people were using it."

Atkinson said he hadn't received a single complaint from a neighbour.

St. Catharines city council has approved a skatepark in principle. A skatepark committee is beginning to organize its first fundraising and public awareness events.

It is estimated it will cost at least $230,000 to build in St. Catharines, with the city's financial commitment not yet known.