The state of Warwick’s new skatepark, as posted Aug. 18 by Mayor Michael Newhard. (
)
The state of Warwick’s new skatepark, as posted Aug. 18 by Mayor Michael Newhard. (
)
The state of Warwick’s new skatepark, as posted Aug. 18 by Mayor Michael Newhard. (
)
Warwick Mayor Michael Newhard said the new state-of-the-art public skatepark in Veterans Memorial Park could be ready for area skateboarders, BMXers and inline skaters this fall.
“We are hoping for an October opening,” Newhard said last week. “Not only are they pouring concrete, but they are finishing surfaces, which is a tremendous amount of hand work.”
Newhard said workers from Artisan Skateparks have been working on the project all summer while staying in cabins at Mountain Lake Park.
“There will be two main areas of activity,” Newhard explained. “A stairway will connect a street course and a large bowl that looks like a swimming pool.”
The driving force behind the project is Warwick Skatepark Initiative (WSI), an advocacy group formed to build the new skatepark. The group’s efforts resulted in a $650,000 grant from the Vincent Kosuga and Pauline Kosuga Foundation last year plus an in-kind contribution of $132,000 from Ground Control Excavating.
“Pilar Designs – a design build company – designed the park and the build portion is being done by Artisan,” Newhard said. “It has all been fundraised through WSI. We did some preparatory work on the land removing trees and helped with some of the drainage, but Ground Control did a tremendous amount of the initial excavation for the project donating time, energy and manpower.”
While the new park will replace the original skatepark built some 25 years ago, it will carry the same name.
“The first skatepark was named after my dad, Robert J. Newhard, who was a trustee at the time,” the mayor said. “He was the liaison to parks and recreation and a group of skaters, who had been harassed as skating was considered an outsider sport, wanted a place to skateboard. My dad loved the idea, embraced it and helped these young men come up with a design and place. Sadly, my dad passed away and I was appointed to finish his term, and we built the park. When the process began, they were freshman and when it opened, they were seniors.”
Newhard said pickleball courts will replace the original skate park.
For more information, log onto warwickskatepark.org.