Skatepark coming to Ash Grove City Park

Skateboard enthusiasts in Ash Grove will soon have a new kick-it spot. Les Gardner, mayor of Ash Grove, said the city will be installing a new skatepark in the city park on the west side of the tennis court area. He expects the park will be installed before summer.
“Depending on production, it could be anywhere from the end of May to the middle of June,” he said.
Gardner said the initial quote for a skatepark was between $70,000 and $80,000, which he described as “way above our budget.”
However, the city found a less expensive option.
“This initial go around, the equipment is a little over $14,000,” he said. “We still have to add fencing and a couple of other items. We have kept it as economical as possible.”

The decision to bring a skatepark to Ash Grove
Gardner said the need for the skatepark became apparent after a lot of children’s playground equipment was replaced at the city park.
“The city has had to replace, and is in the process of replacing smaller playground equipment, due to old equipment that was in the park for children to play on being an insurance liability,” he said. “With that point, there is everything out there in the park for young toddlers to play with, but not (older) youth. There’s been a lot of skateboard individuals hanging out on Main Street, just doing their rails, doing the walks and stuff like that, and I started talking to some of the kids in the area, and it was an overwhelming appreciation for them to have something they can go do their (skating) on.”
Once the skatepark is installed, Gardner said, it can also be expanded, and towards that end, the city is working on getting a grant from the Tony Hawk
Foundation.
“We are in the middle of submitting some stuff to them as an expansion of our park,” he said, “and that’s why we went with the stuff we went with, because if we do get a grant through the Tony Hawk Foundation, or any other contributions or a grant from somebody else, this equipment will merge with anything else that we do.”
Ash Grove youth take initiative in bringing the skatepark to town:
Near the end of last summer, some youth in the town began circulating a petition on their own to bring a skatepark to Ash Grove. Gardner said the initiative they showed convinced him that the kids not only wanted the skatepark, but they would also take care of it.
“When I heard about it, I thought it was great that they were taking ownership in wanting a park for them to hang out in,” he said. “With youth having ownership in something, my feelings are that they’re not going to tear it up or destroy it.”

Why the skatepark is needed
Brandon Prather, 17, a junior at Ash Grove High School and a skateboarder, was one of the youths who helped raise support for bringing the skatepark into Ash Grove. He said the skatepark is seriously needed in town.
“With the growing population of skaters in our small town, an area where the skaters can safely ride and practice has become a necessity,” he said. “Not only are skaters now getting blamed for anything bad that happens in our town, because of the bad rep skating has, it isn’t safe for them to be riding on the streets and the sidewalks are too cracked and full of grass to ride on.”
Prather said the tennis courts at the city park aren’t often occupied, so converting one of them into a skatepark will not cause any hardship.
“The tennis court is rarely used,” he said. “I’ve lived here for four years, and I’ve seen it used only once; by a few kids who got rackets from the pool in the summer and returned them just a few minutes later. We are going to be taking out only one of the two tennis courts and put a fence in; that way if anyone wanted to play tennis, they still can without being interrupted by skaters and vice versa.”

Pros outweigh cons
Gardner said there was some opposition to bringing a skatepark into Ash Grove, but the people opposed to it couldn’t really muster an argument as to why the city shouldn’t have a skatepark.
“They really don’t have an explanation; just the fact that they don’t want a skateboard park in the area,” he said.
Prather said the skatepark will prove to be an asset to the community.
“There is on and off support of the skatepark but something people need to keep in mind is that if your town doesn’t have a skatepark, it is a skatepark,” he said. “A skatepark gives skaters a safe place to skate off the streets and out of the way of others. The idea is to limit injuries due to surface irregularities and collisions with cars or other people. Skating will continue to grow with the popularity rapidly rising since (another skater) and I started bringing our boards to school then riding after school and encouraging others to join us beginning of last year.”

A promise to keep the skatepark looking nice
Prather said he and a friend of his, Will Lanter, are committed to keeping the skatepark looking nice after it’s installed.
Will … and I will be helping keep the skatepark clean and removing any graffiti,” he said. “Not only will this be a good place for skaters to practice, it will bring a source of pride to the skating community if we keep it clean and looking nice.”
Gardner said he also thinks the skatepark will be something the city can be proud of.
“When all the equipment is there, I think it’s going to look really rad,” he said.