A groundbreaking ceremony was held Monday for a skate park in Zelienople.

ZELIENOPLE — Amy Barkley and Linda Gass sat on a bench Monday in Community Park, observing the freshly excavated plot of land that soon will house a skateboard and BMX park.

Though the muddy rectangle doesn't look like much, the two looked ahead to when the project that has been nearly a decade in the making is finished.

“My hope is that it just helps build the community,” Barkely said. “It's not for us. It's never been about that. I want to come back here in two years and see a bunch of new kids that we don't know skating.”

Barkley, Gass and more than 100 members of the community came together Monday for the official groundbreaking of the park that began as a senior project for Gass' son, Trevor Barkley.

Read the full story in Tuesday's Butler Eagle.