Skate park organization plans event to get people to the park
Although the Butler Area Skatepark Association has been organizing to renovate the skate facility at Father Marinaro Park for more than a year, its Party in the Park on Saturday, June 27, will be the first time the group is actually inviting the public to enjoy the site.
Party in the Park will feature bands, skateboarding contests, raffles, food and more, with Ken Clowes, president of the Butler Area Skatepark Association, saying the event is meant to show people what the park has to offer.
Although Party in the Park is the first community event the skatepark association is hosting among its own ramps, it has had a few public outings since its founding last year, like the skateboard art show in November and its recent skate park cleanup day. The cleanup day invited people to help freshen up the skate park in preparation for the public event and Clowes said the work day attracted a lot of help.
“We want to get as much of the community involved as possible, that’s anything from volunteering to enjoying the space itself,” Clowes said. “We painted over some graffiti, cleaned up some trash and some leaves, replaced railings. We probably had about 50 people.”
The free-to-attend Party in the Park will kick off at 10 a.m. on June 27 with live music starting at 11 a.m. Musical artists playing include The Union Forever, 90 Seconds to Midnight, Dead Against, Rejected Gen., Maybe Eventually, Repo Man, Faded Color, Snowbirds and Murphy Thompson.
There are numerous skate competitions taking place throughout the event, as well as children’s activities, which Clowes said will be provided by the association and other agencies collaborating on the event.
Although the event is billed as a fundraiser, Clowes said the party is not directly asking for money from anyone and is instead attempting to get people interested in the skate park. He explained that even though the association will be raising money for probably a few years, the administrators of the group plan to continue maintaining and promoting the park long after it has been renovated.
Even after the park is repaved and gets new ramps installed, which is one of the main reasons the association was founded, Clowes said he and his colleagues want to bring people to enjoy the fruits of their labor.
“It’s more for the community to enjoy the park than it is a fundraiser,” Clowes said. “My hopes is that within two years, if not next summer, the summer after that we can break ground on a new skate park there. One of our missions is to make sure the park stays good.”
For more information on Party in the Park or the Butler Area Skatepark Association, visit butlerskate.org.
