Butler skate park targeted for improvement
Skateboarding is all about flow, and the skate park in Butler’s Father Marinaro Park is a little lacking in that department. That’s according to skateboarders who have coasted it and the streets of the city for years.
Now, they have created a nonprofit in an effort to improve skating opportunities in Butler.
The Butler Area Skatepark Association became a certified nonprofit on July 25, with the mission of improving the Butler skate park.
The board members, several of them skaters themselves, said the park was “state of the art” when it opened in September 2002, but the skill ceiling of skateboarders has surpassed the park’s potential.
“Things have just changed. Things have gotten bigger and better and more polished over the years,” said Sean Carcaise, vice president of the association. “Concrete skate parks with different sections, that's just the way that it is now.”
Sitting atop the 17,000-square-foot skate park tucked inside a fence are several obstacles — a half pipe, a vert ramp, mini ramps flanked by rails and wedge ramps — mostly wooden structures that have deteriorated with age.
Notably absent is a pyramid, a four-sided structure that comes to a plateau, which Carcaise said is an essential piece of any modern skate park. The park did have a pyramid in its early days, which gave skaters a base to start or end runs, but Carcaise said it did not take long before it was removed.
The association’s goal is to mill the park and replace all the obstacles with newer pieces. The park is built on cement, but Ken Clowes, association president, said the group aims to repave the surface and add different tiers in the park that correlate to different skill levels.
Clowes said the amount of space available at the park means it could become a world-class skate park with the right design and attention to detail. Clowes said the skate park in Zelienople is an example of a well-done modern skate park, but Butler’s would have even more space.
“We've got 17,000 square feet out there, so with the right layout it could be an amazing skate park, because you have plenty of space to put a lot of obstacles in, and if they’re spaced right, it could have a nice flow to it,” he said. “What we’d like to see as far as skill level in the design is something for everybody. Mellow stuff for beginners, some intermediate-type stuff and maybe a couple things that would be considered advanced.”
Butler is in the midst of making improvements to Father Marinaro Park, starting with its basketball courts, which are adjacent to the skate park.
The skate park has been included in talks to improve Father Marinaro as a whole for years, but Clowes said the founding of a nonprofit based around improving it has helped put plans in motion.
“It was about the right people coming together at the right time,” Clowes said.
The nonprofit also has allies in city council — one of its board members is Butler City Councilman Troy Douthett, himself a skater, and they have spoken with Councilman Dan Herr, the city’s director of parks and recreation and public property.
Herr said he plans to include money for the skate park in the city’s budget, with plans to get the park in a better place by this time next year. He said working with skateboarders who run a nonprofit has helped come up with wants and needs for a potential skate park because its design is a particular point of interest.
“I am hoping to get it into the budget in 2026. At that point, it will be a matter of when can we get the bids in, the designs in. Then we can get started,” Herr said.
The skate park landing on council’s to-do list isn’t just because of the local skateboarders who have been asking for it to be improved, Herr and Clowes agreed that a nice skate park could be a boon to the city.
When the park opened, it was packed with skaters daily, and Clowes said continuing to support the park once it is revamped could lead to economic and social benefits in the city.
“It gives people of all ages a constructive outlet for creativity and physical activity, brings people together,” Clowes said about skateboarding. “We could attract visitors from other cities and boroughs, and they could support the restaurants, businesses, so on, and it could also convince people in Butler to stay in Butler.”
Carcaise said he hopes to also found a skate camp for youths in the city, to not only give the skate park more users, but continually raise money for the park’s upkeep.
“The concrete, you’ve got to stay up on it,” he said. “We want to raise money to keep the park as pristine as possible for as long as possible.”
Skateboarding becoming an Olympic sport in 2016 has also led to an increase in awareness of skateboarding, as well as introducing even more future possibilities for skate athletes.
“The next Olympic skater might come out of Butler, Pennsylvania — you never know,” Carcaise said.
Rounding out the Butler Area Skatepark Association board are members Joshua Boozel, treasurer; Jen Bellis, secretary; and Skyler Hetrick. They are not skateboarders, but said fixing up the skate park would have benefits to people they know in Butler.
“I've got two young kids, too. I wasn't a skater, but maybe this is something I could get them involved in,” Boozel said.
Carcaise said community involvement in the park would be a continued focus for the association, which would not disband once a new park is installed. He said the park could host skate competitions, exhibitions and even other events based around skateboarding and skate culture.
The first event is happening before any land is milled at the skate park. The association is hosting a skateboard art contest Nov. 14 at the Butler Art Center & Gallery, where artists will showcase designs created on boards.
Carcaise said this event has generated local and national interest.
“Every single board that’s going up to be painted has been skated by somebody in Butler,” he said. “We’ve got kids, four or five 11- to 15-year-olds, and not only do we have local artists, but I’ve got people reaching out online from Seattle.”
Clowes said skateboarding could be a good outlet for youths and adults alike, and even a way for people to connect with one another over a shared hobby.
They just need a good park to skate in.
“What I thought was cool about skateboard culture is the very young to older skateboarders, we all mesh, and you often see the older skaters mentor the younger skaters and it kind of provides a second family,” Clowes said. “What we hope to do is promote the use of the park as an attraction of Butler by hosting events such as competitions, music events and skateboarding lessons.”
For more information on Butler Area Skatepark Association and its upcoming skateboard art show, visit its website at butlerskate.org.
