By Ashley Thompson
THE HANTS JOURNAL
NovaNewsNow.com
SK8 Windsor says if you build it, they will come – and they’re not talking Kevin Costner or baseball diamonds.
The second annual Go Skateboarding day held Saturday, June 19, may not have secured enough money or land to build a skatepark in Windsor, but it did show exactly what is lost without one.
“The kids deserve a place to call their own. They need somewhere to just say ‘this is ours,’” said Jack Kelly, spokesperson for SK8 Windsor.
The event, hosted by SK8 Windsor and sponsored by Lucky Pizza, Cocoa Pesto Bistro and Windsor Recreation, had skaters merrily flooding the Waterfront basketball court with kick flips, ollies and rail grinds while nearly 60 supporters, of all ages, cheered them on.
“We’ve talked to a lot of the parents and even the grandparents who have come with the kids and they think a safe place to skate is well needed,” Kelly said.
Nineteen skaters registered to compete for helmets, t-shirts and deck stickers donated by Pro Skate, Pro Girl, Entity Skateboards and Windsor Home Hardware.
Mayor Paul Beazley said he enjoyed tending the barbeque so much at the first Go Skateboarding Day, he couldn’t help but offer his services again this year.
“You see them in groups of two or three on the sidewalks sometimes but it’s nice to see them all together,” Beazley said, glancing out at the skate competition on the basketball court.
“Looking at all of these kids and the diversity of ages, it certainly does drive the point home that they’re out there.”
Mayor Beazley believes the large turn out for Go Skateboarding Day is a good sign for SK8 Windsor, which aims to secure a safe place for skateboarders to perfect their craft, but he admits more community members will have to come together to make this work.
Lucky Pizza owner Mel Francis joined SK8 Windsor to support her daughter’s desire to start skating. Her daughter’s interest has since waned, but Francis remains on the committee as she feels more kids will take up skateboarding if they have a place to meet.
“It’s a relatively inexpensive hobby that keeps youth active,” says Francis, who jokes she could pull a knee-high ollie back in the 80’s when her skate deck was her main mode of transportation.
It seemed knee-high ollies were scarce on the courts during the competition as the kick flip was the trick to beat. Skaters were divided into three groups and instructed to play a game of SKATE, in which each player must mimic the trick landed by the previous skater, or gain a letter. The first competitors to spell SKATE are eliminated.
Will Munroe won the first round, landing a kick flip and taking home a helmet donated by Pro Skate.
Skateboard park in Hantsport
Margot Bureaux, chairwoman of the committee to build a skateboard park on the Hantsport Memorial Community Centre grounds, says having skateboarding facilities in Windsor and Hantsport may bring visiting skaters to Hants County.
“They just want to learn some tricks, do some skating and have some challenging terrain to do that on,” said Bureaux.
She hopes to raise $50,000 through fundraising within the next year or two, so construction of an aesthetically pleasing, plaza style skateboard park can begin.
Bureaux, and supporters, will be marching, skating and biking, in the July 1 parade in Hantsport.
