After months of work through a challenging winter, the stakeholders, builders and skaters of Warm Springs Skatepark will celebrate the rebuilt public facility with a grand opening on Wednesday. The event begins at 11 a.m. at the Hollywood Boulevard park and will feature a blessing ceremony, guest speakers, a ribbon cutting and, yep, skateboarding.
Among those planning to attend is Joey Martin, owner and founder of Collective Concrete & Construction, the Portland-based skatepark builder that has upgraded park greatly, replacing the rails, boxes and dilapidated ramps that formerly constituted the skatepark to the sprawling concrete oasis of today.
According to Martin, groundbreaking on the new park took place on Indigenous Peoples Day, Oct. 10, with work continuing whenever breaks in the long winter allowed.
“We were just kind of dodging the weather,” he said. “(Work) was sporadic, but when we looked at the forecast, when it was looking pretty good, we’d make the jump for it. When it was bad weather, I’d make sure I had my snowboard in the back of my truck, stop halfway and go snowboarding.”
The crew was putting finishing touches on the park when Explore spoke to Martin earlier this week. Along with employees of his company, volunteers, including Warm Springs and other central Oregon skaters, also worked on the project, helping to shape and pour the park’s smooth, enticing new concrete features.
Workers finalize construction at Warm Springs Skate ParkCourtesy Collective Concrete & Construction
Workers put final touches on the Warm Springs Skatepark on Tuesday.Courtesy Collective Concrete & Construction
“That was kids after class, as far as the elementary school, and one of the older kids would come and help us out on weekends,” Martin said. “There were quite a few people that kind of stopped by and wanted to give us a hand.”
Martin estimated the final price tag of the 4,200-square-foot park at around $136,000, some of which was funded by a grant from The Skatepark Project, which was founded by Tony Hawk and helps finance public skateparks in low-income communities, along with other donations.
“The money poured in right off the bat,” Martin said. “We did a social media post on our platform, and I got a call from the Skatepark Project.”
According to Martin, phase two, which will feature an additional 2,000 square feet of skatepark, is $17,000 away from being fully funded. Money pending, work on phase two could begin in June, he said.
As part of that effort, the old ramps and features of the Warm Springs Skatepark will find new life in Simnasho, a small town in the northeast corner of the reservation, where Collective Concrete will pour a new concrete pad and improve the ramps that formerly constituted the Warm Springs Skatepark.
“So it’s like a banger, two for one, it’s so rad,” Martin said. “This thing has steamrolled in such a righteous scenario for everyone. It’s easy to give ourselves pats on the back, but we just want to grow and show kids what skateboarding means to us. I think that’s the silver lining. We’re skaters. We’ll make it happen.”
Martin said a team of skaters from Shrunken Head Skateboards in Portland will ride at the event on Wednesday.
“I want (locals) to see people make that park look rad so these kids can start looking at their lines, figuring it out things,” Martin said. “I would say 80% of that community is almost-new skaters, so I want to bring my buddies down there, these guys from Shrunken Head, and just light the fire.”
— Reporter: djasper@bendbulletin.com