JULY 23, 2009 ISSUE
A New Home for the Sport of Skateboarding
Appalachian Skatepark Relocates to Ashe County Park, Park To Remain Free
Residents of the High Country will once again have a safe—and free—place to skate.
Although the future looked grim after the Watauga County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously on June 1 to close the Appalachian Skatepark after almost three years in operation, news came this week that the Ashe County Board of Commissioners voted 4-1 on Monday, July 20, to relocate the skatepark to Ashe County Park, located at 527 Ashe Park Road in Jefferson.
With the help of volunteers, Appalachian Skatepark Council member Buzz Berry is currently dissecting the skatepark at its original home in Boone and will have the pre-fabricated structure disassembled by July 31.
“It’s bittersweet. This is not what we intended in the beginning, but it’s still good news,” said Berry. “We’re still accomplishing what we set out to do, just not in the place where we intended.”
Joe Boccardy, director of Ashe County Parks & Recreation, is currently pouring a 160-foot by 90-foot asphalt pad for the skatepark. According to Boccardy, Ashe County Park currently has four underutilized tennis courts. Boccardy’s staff will use two of the courts for the skatepark and then renovate the other two tennis courts, constructing a barrier in between to serve as a buffer.
“We’re going to make sure each one feels isolated from the other,” explained Boccardy.
Although Boccardy could not provide an exact date for the opening of the park, it will “hopefully be open within 60 days,” he said. Once open, the park will be available to users for free from dawn to dusk, including in the winter months, weather permitting. Boccardy said “there is a high potential in the future” that Ashe County will construct a roof over the skatepark to make it more accessible in inclement weather. The skatepark’s new location already features lighting.
The park will not feature an attendant, but users will be required to wear helmets, which will be enforced by Ashe County Park staff. The park will include a sign with posted rules that all users must adhere to.
Boccardy attributes the decision to relocate the park to the Ashe County Board of Commissioners and thanked them for believing in himself, his staff and their collective goal of providing a diverse offering of recreational opportunities to the youth of Ashe County and the High Country.
“I’m honored. [The commissioners] have a lot of trust in us,” said Boccardy. “They know we’re trying to provide more recreational opportunities for the kids, which keeps those kids out of trouble. The more stuff we provide for the kids to do, the more they stay off the streets.”
The Appalachian Skatepark opened in July 2006 after four community members co-signed a loan from High Country Bank to purchase an $80,000 pre-fabricated skatepark setup. Watauga County provided $20,000 toward the purchase and a space for the skatepark at the Watauga County Parks & Recreation Complex off State Farm Road in Boone, and the Town of Boone donated in-kind paving services. As of June 1, three of the original co-signers—Berry, Brian Mueller and Ken Gordon—still owed roughly $30,000 on the skatepark loan. On Monday, the Ashe County Board of Commissioners agreed to pay off the remaining debt on the loan, while at the same time assuring that the skatepark will still be free to use.
“We are simply relocating [the skatepark] to Ashe County. We in no way will be profiting one cent off of it,” said Berry, who will piece the pre-fabricated skatepark components back together at Ashe County Park in the coming weeks.
Community Interest
News & Notes
Events
Arts & Entertainment
