New skatepark lands North Grenville on prime time TV

Is North Grenville ready for its close-up? TVO thinks so.
Kemptville and South Gower will be the setting for two episodes of Giver, a new series that production company Sinking Ship Entertainment styles as a kind of Extreme Makeover: Playground Edition.
For six days in late August, local youth will work with contractors to build a new skateboard/bike park in Riverside Park, and a fitness trail linking the soccer fields and baseball diamonds in South Gower Park.
North Grenville council had budgeted $53,000 to replace the sagging asphalt at the skatepark with more durable concrete, and then make further improvements next year. When parks and recreation director Darren Patmore heard that Giver was looking for projects, he saw an opportunity to completely redesign the skatepark and get North Grenville on TV at the same time.
The broadcaster kicks in $10,000 per project, and council added another $30,000 after the tennis court resurfacing came in under budget. With Spectrum Skatepark Creations Ltd. designing and building the park at a significant discount, a project that could cost up to $150,000 rings in at $93,000.
Veteran BMX biker Dan Williams is thrilled that the park youth have been clamouring for since the mid-90s will soon be a reality. He says the new skatepark is sorely needed because the existing park, with one small quarter pipe and one bank, is quickly mastered by beginners, and bored riders take to the streets and parking lots to learn new tricks.
When Coun. Terry Butler asked how many youth would realistically use the new skatepark – since unlike baseball or soccer leagues, skateboarding and biking are inherently unstructured activities, and usage stats are hard to come by – Williams’ art teacher suggested he circulate a petition among his classmates at North Grenville District High School and other local schools to gauge support. About 200 youth signed on, and council was convinced that the investment would be worth it.
“Everybody’s excited for the new park. Everybody’s coming together,” said Williams, 15.
Though he still uses the current park “pretty much every day,” he rides competitively and often travels from his home in Actons Corners to more advanced parks in Ottawa, Perth and as far asa Picton. “I need a better park to progress. We all do,” he said.
Youth he talks with while out of town tell him they like Kemptville’s “nice, calm” atmosphere – skaters and bikers get along here, which isn’t the case everywhere, he explained – but wished for a more advanced park to make their trip to North Grenville worthwhile.
Williams and friends gave Patmore input on the placement and specifications of the new equipment to make the park suitable for beginners and experts alike. “It’s got some street stuff in it, it’s got some park stuff in it, and it all joins together,” Williams said.
“It’s safer for kids. They’re not biking around town. It’s just a safer location,” agreed fellow biker Jacques Bigras, 14.
Though the skatepark is currently known as a site where teens will loiter and smash bottles, Williams thinks that element would be driven off by the new park.
“I think with the park the way it is now, some people don’t respect it because when you look at it you don’t really see anything that needs to be respected,” he said. “Kids will have more respect for it if it’s new, and hopefully it’ll stay clean for a while.”
Since usage should increase and youth are volunteering to help design and build the park – including decorating the half pipe with a graffiti artist – Patmore thinks the park will be “self-policing,” and vandalism will decrease.
It will also boost the local economy to have all those teenagers stay in town, Williams noted. “If I go to Brockville and use their skatepark during the day, I spend at least 30 bucks there, so it’s going to be great for Kemptville,” he said.
At a breakfast meeting last week, Tobin and Patmore presented the project to local businesses and asked for cash or in-kind donations to help offset the additional cost to the municipality.
Williams, Bigras and skateboarder Ben Wilkinson told attendees how the new park would improve the quality of life for local youth, and Royal Canadian Legion president Joanne Dudka pledged her organization’s support for what she called “a really special project.” The Legion will house and feed the workers, and the OPP officers will volunteer alongside youth.
The payoff for businesses, Tobin explained, was the free advertising provided by the program. TVO will syndicate Giver for six years, with an audience of 100,000 to 120,000 viewers per episode.
Some companies signed up on the spot. “We’ve already had some terrific response to this,” Tobin said, inviting interested companies to contact her.
In South Gower Park, work crews will cut a looping trail through the forest where parents and children can exercise and have fun at new fitness stations, and teams can use the trail during warm-ups.
Like the skatepark, the fitness trail is another way his department is trying to make North Grenville a more active place for residents of all ages, Patmore said.
Filming at the skatepark starts August 26.

Small - Large
|
Print
|
Email
|
|