It’s taking shape, but it isn’t quite ready yet.
Ground was broken on Brown County’s first skate park, Victory Park, in April at Deer Run Park. Rain and contract negotiations delayed the actual construction, said Kids on Wheels parent volunteer Colleen Smith.
The group had hoped to have it open this summer.
But then “the monsoon season that hit us was unbelievable,” Smith said. “After that finally went away, we had to wait for it to dry out.”
[sc:text-divider text-divider-title=”Story continues below gallery” ]Colleen’s son, Isaiah Smith, proposed building a skate park to his high school principal when he was a junior in 2017. It became his senior service project. He helped to design it.
In addition to a concrete skating surface — which is being installed now — the park will have “teen park” elements such as a gaga pit (a circular, enclosed area for playing a dodgeball-like game), hammock swings and tire swings. Those are being installed by various teen groups.
Last week, Colleen Smith said that finishing the skate park portion would take a couple weeks, but the park itself won’t have its grand opening until the other park elements are ready. She said she wants to ensure there are no trip hazards from people working on other elements of the park before kids try out the skate park portion.
Signs also need to be posted at the entrances that show the rules and warn of hazards associated with the extreme sport before kids can begin skating.
Skate parks are protected under Indiana Code 34-13-3-3, which prevents a government entity from being liable if someone gets hurt using the property.
Two Eagle Scout candidates, Tristen Shields and Elijah Smith, will begin working on the gaga pit and hammock swing area around the end of this month/beginning of September.
The Brown County 4-H Gang is working on designing the tire swing area, but they do not have a start date for construction of that element yet.
Along with the rain and contract negotiation delays, Smith said that park organizers had to certify that the park was not in a floodway before construction could begin.
“The area was just really, really wet. It’s a great location, but it was just a really wet area,” she said.
Some of the money raised for the park had to be spent on dirt to build up the level of the park. Wagler Construction also installed drains and swales to redirect water around the park.
“So even when the kids are out there playing and things, it shouldn’t turn into a big muddy mess like sometimes happens in the spring. It should stay pretty dry,” Smith said.
The park is being built by Hunger Skate Parks of Bloomington. The delays caused Kids on Wheels to miss its work window with the company this summer, so Hunger Skate Parks went on to Columbus to build a new skate park there before returning here to finish Victory Park.
No grand opening date has been set yet for the park. Smith said the announcement will be made on the Kids on Wheels Facebook page.
Kids on Wheels is also working to raise $12,000 to fund elements like creating two handicap-accessible parking spaces for the park and concrete or asphalt paths to the park; installing art from a young local artist; and bringing in some large Brown County stones for kids to sit on.
The group also hopes to raise an additional $2,000 to install an handicap-accessible swing that a wheelchair can go onto.
“We spent quite a bit of money (that was already raised) on getting the base for the park built and getting some drainage problems fixed,” Smith said.
The money to be raised will also help pay for grading, seeding and landscaping at the park.
Three picnic tables have been built as part of Isaiah Smith’s Eagle Scout project, but a handicap-accessible table still needs to be built and would be funded by the $12,000 yet to be raised. Checks and cash can be sent to the Kids on Wheels PO Box. 384 in Nashville.
Smith said Kids on Wheels continues to write grants to help finish the fundraising. The group recently received a $5,000 grant from the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs to install skatable art in the park.
In June, Kids on Wheels hosted a Jeep Poker Run. The fundraiser ended up bringing in $4,500 from 43 Jeeps with 78 participants. Most of that money went toward buying dirt to raise the level of the park.
If the community wants to help finish the park, Smith said the best way to find opportunities to help is to check out the Kids on Wheels Facebook page.
“Right now, we’re letting Hunger Skate Parks to do their thing. … Then we’ll get in there and start working on other components. Once we get down to where we’re doing gardening and mulching, we’ll definitely have some opportunities for people to help out,” she said.
After all of the delays, Smith said it was exciting for her and Isaiah to finally be able to go over to Deer Run and see the skate park taking shape.
“We stop by and check it every night to see what happens and how much progress is made,” she said.
