Skateboarder lauds the possibilities of Zelienople Memorial Skate Park
ZELIENOPLE — Painters have a brush and canvas. Writers have a pen and paper. Skaters have a skateboard and a skate park. Locals consistently choose to perfect their craft at Zelienople Memorial Skate Park, even with so many choices in the greater Pittsburgh area.
The Zelienople Memorial Skate Park has earned a reputation as the best park in the greater Pittsburgh area. Its importance is evident in how many events are hosted there each year. In 2026 alone, it has hosted Skeaster, Joe Conklin’s Birthday Bash and the sixth annual Concrete BMX competition. When the action sports community wants to put on an event, they choose Zelienople over the skate parks in South Park, Boyce Park, Bellevue or Carnegie.
Chase Nymon, 19, of Wexford, started skateboarding at 7 years old and scootering at 15. He visits the Zelienople skate park two or three times a week and said it has several attributes that sets it above the rest.
“It’s the newest one, and the smoothest one,” Nymon said. “The bowl is really nice, really smooth. It has a great flow to it. It takes a little bit to figure it out, but once you get it, it's super nice and super awesome.”
A bowl resembles a drained swimming pool equipped with a shallow and deep end, but to an action sports enthusiast, a bowl is an endless concrete wave. Zelienople skate park’s bowl is its most popular attraction, and on any given day there is usually a line to drop into it. From the sidelines, spectators can witness Tony Hawk-esque tricks as riders grind its edges and forcefully eject out of it.
Nymon reminisced about his first back flip on a scooter, which he achieved in the Zelienople bowl.
“When I first attempted it, I pulled way too hard on the flip and over-rotated, and ended up breaking my wrist … then three months later, while I was still in a brace, (I thought) I’m just going to go for it again.”
Nymon said he “landed it, first try,” and his friend was “just excited and in disbelief.”
“I was in … adrenaline rush mode … that just happened,” Nymon said.
Many nonskaters know that a kickflip is a common skateboard trick, but few know the falls, gashes and sweat that lead to flipping a wooden board. Landing a trick is just the entry point; enthusiasts then spend the rest of their careers perfecting it and adding their own style. Style is everything to a skater. It dictates which clothes and shoes they wear, what tricks they perform and even which skate parks they use.
“We’re all trying to be creative and artistic with our sports … skateboarding, BMX, scooter riding, roller-blading, anything like that,” Nymon said. “It’s all forms of art, and it’s our way of expressing ourselves.”
Zelienople has more than a bowl; it has an entire section that simulates what is found on the streets. Handrails, ledges and banks are capped at both ends with quarter pipes so athletes can keep their momentum between obstacles.
This design provides plenty of options for trick combinations that are only limited by creativity and skill. This freedom for expression is what sets Zelienople Memorial Skate Park apart from other local options and allows a blank canvas for creativity.
