By BOB SHRALUKA
WZBD.com
“Basically, my thing is these kids never felt like anyone ever listened to them. But we have,” Decatur Mayor Dan Rickord said Tuesday after cutting a ribbon at the city’s new skate park.
The facility is located in North Ward Park, Short and Fifth streets, near the city swimming pool.
The skate park has all sorts of new equipment, including a highly-popular halfpipe. The facility has been quite busy in recent days, spurred by good weather.
The idea for the skate park came months ago after the mayor saw skaters taking their boards onto and over various sites downtown, such as the courthouse.
He asked some of them why they weren’t using the existing skate park (in the same location). “Because it sucks,” he said he was told. In truth, it was severely lacking.
“So we got together with some of them,” Rickord explained. “Curt (Witte), Brad (Roe) and I had four or five meetings with them. They picked the design and the equipment, gave us ideas, then Curt and Brad (the director and deputy director, respectively, of the building and zoning department) put together the design, what we could afford.
“So, it’s basically a place these young people can call their own, something they will take care of,” the mayor continued.
City employees have been working on putting the skate park together for some time, beginning as far back as last May, and now the park’s equipment is nearly all concrete.
The cost was estimated at around $35,000, with federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds used. City council gave its approval.
The skate park joins a dog park, a renovated Kekionga ball diamond, numerous pickleball courts, and other facilities around the city which have been added in recent years. Likely coming next is an improvement of the disc golf course at Kekionga Park.
WIN IT!: To celebrate the occasion, skateboards and scooters are being offered as prizes in a contest.
Adams Circuit Judge Chad and Laura Kukelhan have donated the prizes, with no fees charged to enter the contest.
To sign up, those interested should stop by City Hall downtown between the hours of 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
The contest is open to ages 5 to 20 and limited to one entry per person.
The deadline to enter is 1 p.m. on Wednesday, April 30.
