New phase expands skatepark, options for fun

SANDPOINT — It didn't take long for word to get out.

When crews completed the second phase of Concrete Lake Skate Park early, they invited the community's skateboarders to give it a spin last week. The half-dozen or so watching the work immediately took city officials at their word and hit the pavement. Before long, a post about the early opening spread throughout the skating community, and the expansion — all 7,000-plus square feet of it — was filled with activity.

Add in 5,000 square feet in the first phase — now about 15 years old — and the park offers roughly 12,000 square feet of diverse terrain and skill areas with something for everyone.

"I think we have a really good mix of some fun, flowy intermediate terrain, and some more advanced terrain," Rory Whitney, owner of 7B Boardshop and co-founder of the skatepark association, said of the park. "There's literally something for everybody."

Work on the second phase began in early June and was completed on budget and several weeks ahead of schedule. The park, which opened unofficially July 26, was celebrated at a ribbon-cutting grand opening Tuesday.

"Government works slow; dreams take a long time to build," Grimm told the skaters. "But it all starts with that kernel of a dream, and you all had that. Hats off to you because persistence is the thing."

Holding to that dream and working to make it a reality was key to making the second phase of the skate part a reality, Grimm said, adding that when he was younger, he enjoyed doing exactly what the skateboarders and scooter riders were doing before they were pulled off the concrete to officially mark the opening of the second phase.

"I look forward to watching you and seeing you grow your skills and having fun out there," he added, telling them that the skate park was officially open.

"We're just super stoked to see you guys here skating," Jason Welker, the city's Community Development director, told the several dozen skaters and scooters gathered at the skate park Tuesday.

Welker said he was excited to see Dreamland complete the park so quickly and to see the dedication of the company's owners, Danyel and Mark Scott, to making both phases a seamless park with something for everyone.

"We're just excited it got done as quickly as it did," Welker said. "I mean, it's just so cool. I just love the way it turned out."

Maeve Nevins-Lavtar, the city's park planning and development manager, said work to build the second phase started with "$95,000 and a whole lot of passion." Thanks to careful budgeting, the city was able to commit about $350,000 from the park's capital improvement fund to add to the $50,000 raised by the Bonner County Skatepark Association. 

Lights, paid through a $50,000 grant, will be installed this fall to extend the usability of the skate park.

Years in the making, the expansion added functionality and potential to the park, Whitney said.

"It's going to be used for years and years to come," he added. "It's a great outlet for kids to come and push themselves, to meet new friends. Lifelong friendships come out of skateboarding and being around skateparks. It's always a positive environment."

Skateboarder and snowboarder Emma Hall agreed, saying the park is welcoming of everyone, young or old, male or female.

"Everybody is super friendly," she said. "Once you get to know them, as long as you are abiding by the skatepark rules and stuff like that, everyone's cool. It's a very open-armed community."

Contrary to misconceptions, the bad reputation that skaters are sometimes given is undeserved, with skaters being an open and accepting community. The skills and work ethic gained from being a skater can be translated into any other area of life, Whitney said.

"You learn a very good sense of work ethic," he added. "You fail, you fail, and you fail, and then you finally get it, and there's a huge feeling of accomplishment. That's how you learn. You keep getting up and you keep trying, and that transcends into other areas of life."

Like the rest of the skating community, Whitney said he was beyond excited to see the expanded park open to the community and loves what he sees. The consensus is that the second phase is everything — and more — that skaters were hoping to see.

Skaters said the park offers something for everyone, offering them plenty of room to play and grow their skills. It is clear, they said, that Dreamland knew what they were doing and poured a lot of thought and attention to detail in creating the park.

"They crushed it," Whitney said.

The way the park was designed, there are endless ways it can be skated or lines taken to add nuance to riding. It is, skaters at the park said, something that allows endless creativity and riding options.

"It's kind of limitless in what you can do," Whitney said. "Your imagination will take you as far as you want to go. It's pretty cool."

Quite simply, skateboarder Isaac Emerson said, Dreamland killed it on the design and the execution.

"They absolutely did a fantastic job," he said. "It's a super fun park with a lot of different skill-level features and obstacles. It's all-around super cool. It's just cool to see something that the community as a whole kind of came together and pushed to make this happen."

Emerson said the park does an exceptional job of taking what skaters might see in the "real" world and adding it as an element to test their skills. It also does a great job of setting up a variety of ways the park can be skated, opening up endless variations of lines and options.

"It's really cool," Emerson said. "You can come here, hone all your skills and practice whatever you want to practice and then take it out into the world." 

Whitney thanked his fellow BCSA members, Schweitzer Mountain and Sean Mirus, the resort's marketing and special event director, for their support in the association's annual fundraiser, the Snow Ghost Banked Slalom. That support helped the association raise funds to put toward the second phase. Also helping were Realm Realty, Timberveil Real Estate, and Litehouse.

A snowboarder in the winter, Emma Hall was among those putting the skatepark through its paces Tuesday. It is, she said, everything that she hoped the expansion would be.

"It's great," Hall said. "It's so good. It's the perfect mix between the old and the new."

While nursing an injury, Hall wasn't able to do everything she wanted to do on her skateboard but said she couldn't resist coming down to see the expansion in person as soon as she heard the city was opening it early.

The amount of "street" skating opportunities built into the park drew raves from the skaters, who praised everything from the bars mimicking handrails to platforms to areas that resemble curbs. All, they said, endless ways to have fun.

"This is what classic skateboarding is," Hall said, adding she only got into the sport a few years ago as a way to spend time in the offseason when she isn't competing as a snowboarder. "This is more like a real skatepark."

For information about how to donate to future expansion efforts, contact the Bonner County Skatepark Association online at bcskatepark.com or stop in at 7B Boardshop, 121 N. First Ave., Sandpoint.

    Sandpoint Mayor Jeremy Grimm talks to skateboarders Tuesday as he joined in a grand opening of the second phase of the Concrete Lake Skatepark.