The city’s first public skate park opened yesterday afternoon. There’s two bowls, a snake run, and plenty of ramps and rails for skateboarders and roller-skaters of all levels.
Designed by Wormhoudt and Associates and Askew Hargraves and Harcourt, the $500,000 project has been in the works for several years. Aaron Shafer of Skatelife Memphis has been pushing the city to develop a public skate park since 2006. You can read more about Shafer’s efforts here.
Today, on its first official day of being open, at least 20 skaters, mostly young adult males on skateboards, took turns doing tricks on the large concrete bowls. One guy attempted tricks wearing inline skates, and another rode a bicycle around the park. A handful of onlookers gathered outside the fence to watch. Patrons of the park skate at their own risk. The park is open from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. in the fall and winter and from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. in the spring and summer.
