Damariscotta Launches Indoor Skate Park Campaign

[woodman]

www.mainelincolncountynews.com/index.cfm?ID=19751

"The Center for Teens in Damariscotta is launching a community-wide campaign to fund construction of an indoor skate park at the Teen Center for skate boarder enthusiasts, inline skaters and BMX bikers from Lincoln County and beyond. The Teen Center’s Board and a group of local volunteers including business and community leaders, parents, and skateboarders of various ages are leading the fundraising campaign for “Our Park - Damariscotta”.

The Indoor Skate Park Campaign was kicked off on July 4th by young skaters and boarders at the Round Pond Parade. Fundraising activities included water and Old Glory t-shirt sales during the parade, and food and drink sales – as well as showing skateboard videos and providing information– in the Municipal Parking Lot during the Damariscotta fireworks.

The Indoor Skate Park will operate year-round, and be open after school, on weekends and holidays, and during school vacations. It will include a professionally designed park, a pro shop, commercial kitchen, and snack bar; and be operated by teens with adult supervision. The Skate Park will contribute financially to the Teen Center’s operations. Together, the Skate Park and Teen Center will become the hub of Lincoln County’s teen community and be a popular destination for both teens and their families.

Thanks to early donors, we have preserved the space and completed some construction including the raised Skate Park ceiling, heating and sprinkler systems, and the commercial kitchen for the Snack Bar.

The total cost of construction is estimated at $104,000. To date, 22 percent has been raised, including donations from all Teen Center Board Members.

Between now and September, fundraising efforts will be in high gear and include

the Aug. 27 Pig Roast and Chicken BBQ at Biscay Orchards, the sales of raffle tickets for a “Complete Skater Set” donated by Mexicali Blues (including a skateboard, kneepads, helmet, elbow pads, and fix stick) and the raffle of Roz Welsh’s oil painting, “Troubled Waters,” which is on display at Skidompha Library.

Up to the minute details on upcoming events for the Our Park – Damariscotta Indoor Skate Park Campaign – along with a skateboarders’ blog, may be found at the Center for Teens’ website: www.teencenterat64.org. To get involved, contact the Teen Center by e-mail at: skatepark@teen centerat64.org or phone [phone]."

[bermshot]

Layout:


video:
mms://wm.wcsh-wlbz.gannett.edgestreams.net/news/072806_skatepark_wcsh.wmv

[woodman]

layout looks good, kind of tight, only things i'd change are the quater infront of the bowl (i can imagine carving around the bowl and having a skateboard come flying in) and i'd change that big vert wall infront of the ledge....move it off to the side so you can get some speed up it boy!!!

[bermshot]

Teen Center to remain closed
during Skate Park construction
for safety reasons
Skate Park Construction to begin
September 16

[bermshot]

It's open now:
www.wcsh6.com/news/article.aspx?storyid=48339
wm.wcsh-wlbz.gannett.edgestreams.net/news/122606_skatepark_wcsh.wmv

They'll realize soon that skateparks don't make money....

[bermshot]

www.mainelincolncountynews.com/index.cfm?ID=22944

After a month delay, the long awaited opening of the Damariscotta Indoor Skate Park was held on Dec. 22, just in time for Christmas school vacation. The park was busy over the week long break, with many local skateboarders, mixed with skaters from as far away as Bangor enjoying the brand new park. �I love it. I�ve been here everyday,� Matt Peters of Edgecomb said. �This park is absolutely sick,� Dan Maer of Bath and Massachusetts commented. When asked if that was a good thing, Maer said, �That�s a real good thing, this place is really nice.� Maer said the newly opened Damariscotta park is similar to the one in Bath but smaller.

The opening of the Damariscotta Indoor Skate Park brings a new lingo, familiar with skateboarders, but completely foreign to those unfamiliar with the sport. �Watch Timmy, that�s a 5-0 stall. And that�s a kick turn,� a bystander said of a boarder riding up a flat wall (wall ride) and turning and coming back down. The box in the middle of the facility is called a pyramid box and the metal rail on the edges is called a ledge. A longer rail is called an edge extension. And then you have your pipes, mini pipes, half pipes, quarter pipes and speed ramps all curved sections of hardwood located in various sections of the park.

The bowl is another attraction of the park, and is a submerged inverted half ball in the shape of a bowl. Beginning boarders twirl around and around the bowl gaining momentum, while the more experienced perform tricks on the coping (edge at the top), stopping and turning. In the center is a flat area, used for performing flip tricks and ollies. An ollie is when a boarder pops up off his board and lands back on it. In a flip trick, a boarder pops off the board, flips the board over with his feet and lands back on it.

More than a dozen riders tried out their tricks at the park early Friday afternoon, patiently taking their turns and cheering on each other. Many boarders experimented with new tricks, falling time after time, but always came up smiling. There was no laughing when a boarder fell and absolutely no one made fun of anyone, a refreshing sight and a tremendous testament to their comradeship.

Amman Smith and Cody Drever are overseeing the park. �We have been pretty busy,� Smith said. �We have four kids volunteering. For every session they work, they get a free session,� Smith said of the volunteers who help the park run smoothly by running errands, and helping the younger and less experienced boarders. Smith and Drever are committed to making the park work financially. �That has been the problem with other parks. There are too many people getting in for free, so when you need to make repairs there is no money left,� Smith commented.

The skateboard park has been �well received by the kids, they are really enthusiastic,� promotion chair and web site developer Laurie Herron commented. �All the volunteers and the committee have worked hard to make this happen,� she added.

Damariscotta Teen Center board member Dennis Hilton said the project was a community effort. �We had a short amount of time to raise $100,000.� The committee and volunteers held a fundraiser at Clark Cove Farm (facility donated) and made appeals to businessmen and individuals to raise the needed money to build the skateboard park. �It�s pretty cool. It has been fantastically received. Word has spread throughout the teenage crowd,� Hilton added of kids arriving from Camden, Portland, Bangor and all across midcoast Maine.

The board hopes the Indoor Skate Park will be self sustaining. �The Teen Center needs the skateboard park to succeed to stay in existence. Revenue from the skate park will support the Teen Center,� Hilton said. A grand opening ceremony will be held sometime this winter, �after we have worked out all the bugs,� Hilton added. Hilton invites the public to come to Damariscotta Indoor Skate Park. �Come in and check it out and see what it is all about.�

The Damariscotta Indoor Skate Park is open two sessions a day during the week and three sessions a day on weekends. The sessions are three hours long. If a boarder shows up half way through a session he has a choice of waiting for the session to be over and starting the new session or riding for just part of a session. Either way he has to pay the full price for that session. The cost is $5 a session for members and $7 a session for non-members. The lifetime membership fee is $50. All riders under 18 must have a signed waiver (release form) from their parent of guardian. Parents or guardians must accompany the athlete and provide photo ID, or the athlete must have a notarized waiver the first time they participate. All boarders must wear a helmet when participating.

The park is open Monday through Fridays from 3 to 9 p.m., and on weekends and school vacations from noon to 9 p.m

[bigbmxballs]

so when are bike times or are bikes actually allowed any and all times?

[woodman]

here's the website for the park www.teencenterat64.org/index.html

i don't see any info about bike times, but you could always send them an e-mail an ask [e-mail]

[bermshot]

I got this reply after 2 weeks:

Thank you for your inquiry. At this time we are not allowing BMX bikes. We do inline skates and skateboards. We do have special sessions on Sat and Sun for novice skaters.

[bigbmxballs]

well im glad there not letting bikes in i mean we indanger everyone lol just playing. there is like only a few indoor parks in maine and only bath lets bikes in and thats only a few days a week for 3 hours. we should just all get together and build a biker park.

[woodman]

yeah building a biker only park would be great, but even though maine has quite a few bike riders (for a state like maine) i don't think there are enough to get orgranzied an actually build a park. I mean me an bermshot have been to wilton (a very small town in the boonies) and there where still like 10 skaters at their crappy park. but it's nice to see bmx growing in maine, it would definitely grow more if more parks let bikes in ofcourse.
It will be interesting to see if that BMX track they are planning to build near Lewiston has any affect, heck i'd like to throw together a bmx race bike just for fun.