The design drawing for a planned skate park in Zelienople’s Community Park might look unassuming — some concrete, a few rails and ramps and a pool-like bowl surrounded by trees and grass fields.

But when ground is broken on the long-planned project next month, that concrete and steel will represent much more than a place for skateboarders to kickflip and ollie. It will represent a major milestone in a project that began as a dream and has turned into a rallying point for an entire community.

The dream started in 2010 as a senior project for Seneca Valley High School student Trevor Barkley. Tragically, he didn’t get to finish his work, as he and fellow students Sam Bucci and Elijah Lunsford were killed in a vehicle accident that year.

Set on making his son’s dream a reality, his father, Jeff Barkley, along with a team of dozens took to fundraising and planning for the park.

For the better part of a decade, the community has supported the project through donations, and at wildly popular fish fries each Lenten season. As Jeff Barkley often said, the community would build the skate park “one fish dinner at a time.”

The Friday dinners were akin to family gatherings, with packed crowds meeting to eat, socialize and come together to support their fellow community members.

In another tragic twist, Jeff Barkley died in November, leaving a hole to be filled with the deadline for spending Department of Conservation and Natural Resources grant money looming in 2020.

As it has done every step of the way, the community again came together to make sure the project moved forward. Although it was undoubtedly a challenge, family members picked up where Jeff Barkley left off, with the goal of breaking ground on the horizon.

That goal will be achieved next month, officials said this week. Zelienople Council approved a bid for the design and construction of the park, with work set to begin this summer.

Even with this milestone reached, the community hasn’t stopped giving back. Barbish Contracting of Harmony has stepped up to cover the difference in cost for site work for the project — about $40,000, officials said. It’s just the latest example of the community not only recognizing the chance for positive progress in the borough, but also working together to make that progress happen.

Those involved with the skate park project said they’re still a little under $40,000 from being fully funded.

Yet, there should be little doubt that the community will yet again step up to fill the gap and help make a longtime dream come true for a lot of people, while also building bonds and strengthening the community as a whole. The vision has come too far not to be realized.