(Illustration: Will Maclachlan)
Nova Scotia’s oldest skatepark received a significant upgrade just in time for the summer weather. Although the park had a minor update in 2016, a private donation and a provincial grant have funded a major overhaul over the winter and spring.
The improvements include new features such as a quarter pipe, a triangle ramp, and a long flat bar. The asphalt was also replaced with smooth concrete to enhance the experience for skaters and rollerbladers alike.
Additionally, a gazebo was installed, providing a space for thrill-seekers and roller-sport enthusiasts of all ages to relax out of the elements and enjoy the area for hours.
Feltzen South-born skater Raven Storm emphasizes the importance of these upgrades to sustain the long and significant legacy of skating in Lunenburg County.
“So now the flow of the park makes sense, like that you can start at one end, do a line going that way, turn around, come to a line going this way and just kind of keep that flow going instead of just constantly, like, stopping and starting,” says Storm.
Magnus Constable, another skater, appreciates the park’s history, recalling a 1980s CBC interview that reported on the growing concern about skateboarder presence in Lunenburg.
Constable says, “For me, it’s definitely an interesting thing to look at these videos and these people that are maybe not even skating anymore or skating 30 years ago and seeing how similar and how different it is. It’s understanding the whole picture.”
The decades-long history of skateboarding in Lunenburg has more recently produced a Team Canada member, Johnny Purcell.
In a written statement about the new park to The Barnacle, Purcell writes, “When I go to the new park now, I feel very excited, much like I did when I would go to the skatepark in the early days of my skateboarding. Not only is the new park a huge improvement for skateboarders and action sports enthusiasts, it’s also a much friendlier place to learn to skateboard now that the ground has been redone.”
The skatepark is welcoming users new and old to the Grand Re-Opening on Saturday, June 15 at 2pm.
