Skatepark soon to be more than just a hole
After school gets out in Echo, some kids make their way to the west side of town, near the Umatilla River, to check on the progress of the new skatepark.
It’s just a hole in the ground now, lined with rebar and wooden forms. But the skatepark is fueling the dreams of young skaters all over Echo, Stanfield and Hermiston.
“It’s going to be great,” said Thomas Lowrance, 13. “There are lots of bikers and skaters here. When it’s a small town, you don’t have a lot to do.”
Ryan Denning, 14, also is excited. He said he tends to favor his bike because of the lack of skateable surfaces in town.
A crew from Grindline Skateparks, Inc. works on the a new skatepark in Echo. Photo by Erin Mills
“A lot of people sort of stopped skating because the park got a little boring,” he said, referring to the old skatepark, a small collection of ramps and rails. “I go on anything with wheels; I’m sort of a daredevil.”
Lowrance said he also bikes – Echo has a lot of good dirt to ride on. But he is planning on breaking out his rollerblades once the park is built.
“This will get more people out and active,” he said.
“Instead of sitting on their couch watching TV,” Denning added.
Echo leaders have been raising money through grants and donations – more than $105,000 – for the past two years for the project. When it came time to pick a designer, they chose Grindline Skateparks, the company from Seattle that made the Don Baxter Skatepark in Irrigon.
Grindline tried to fit as many features as it could into the space, said Dave Palmer, a Grindline Skateparks shareholder and one of the men building the park.
In addition to a deep hourglass-shaped bowl, the park will include, among other things, a spine – two ramps that meet at a piece of coping.
“We try to make the park from beginner to advanced as much as possible,” Palmer said. “And so you can generate a lot of speed.”
Palmer said skateparks have become a phenomenon. Cities are building more of them because leaders notice that skateparks get more usage than basketball courts and other sports facilities.
“People who get into it will travel – they might go to skateparks in Pendleton, Irrigon, here, and in Walla Walla,” he said. “It’s a weekend getaway.”
Dale Fife is an Echo resident who championed the skatepark and helped excavate the bowl.
“It gives them (kids) something to do outdoors and keeps them happy,” he said.
Fife said he was impressed with the Grindline crew’s quick progress. The first skatepark design ran into problems with underground fiber-optic lines, so Grindline created a new plan. It ended up superior to the first, with more features.
“These guys are all skaters, and they are really putting some effort into this thing,” he said. “I really appreciate what they are doing.”
