The Concrete Haven

The Blacksburg Skate Park is where you go to perfect that kickflip, run a long grind, and stretch some air under that ollie.

photography by David Franusich

I was fourteen when I received my first lesson in bureaucracy. In a small windowless, town council chamber, a bunch of kids raised their small voices towards authority, hungry for a legitimate place to skateboard.

We were sick of being kicked out of parking lots and chased down by the police because we were skating. Likewise, our parents were tired of having to come to the police station to retrieve their children's toys that had been dutifully secured in the trunk of a patrol car.

We were just kids playing, but town officials and the law saw it differently. To them we were the world's future criminals. In lieu of beady eyes and a five o'clock shadow, a skateboard and long bangs to them was prima facie evidence of a suspicious character. Despite the turnout of parents and kids, despite the "democratic" forum, the case had been decided long before the meeting began. Ignorance and fear of liability won the fight. We kids were once again designated as criminals, getting an early start on political disenchantment and a healthy fear of the police.

Twenty years later, my Podunk hometown looks like any other small rural community: reshaped by the corporate stamp of Starbucks and Wal-Mart, with its own burgeoning gang problem. Cops still chase skateboarders, and meanwhile the country club golf courses are greener than any kid's playing field in the valley.

It's amazing just how far a two-hour car trip can take you from the attitudes of your home town. Blacksburg, VA, this little town that prides itself on innovation and invention, has defied conventional fears and created one of the first and only free, public skate parks in the state.

In 1987, Lee and Daniel Johnson, owners of the Greenhouse Boardshop in downtown Blacksburg, got permission from former Mayor Hedgepeth, and then, with the help of a few volunteers, they designed and constructed a wooden skate park by the recreation center on Patrick Henry Drive. The park's popularity with locals and visitors kept it in consistent use and frequent repair, a fact that did not go unnoticed by Town Council.

Ten years later, motivated by past success and the sport's much-improved public reputation, the Johnson brothers petitioned for and won a permanent place in the 'Burg for skateboarders.

Under the leadership of Director Dean Crane, the Department of Parks and Recreation held open meetings where skaters, parents, city officials and the Greenhouse crew worked out logistics and generated design ideas. The Town financed most of the project and took on the burden of excavating the lot adjacent to the old park.

Contractors from California specializing in skate park production were brought in to do the brunt of the actual construction. Wally Hollyday's design captures all of the elements of street, ramp and bowl skateboarding. Three smooth concrete bowls connect and descend into a course of flat ramps, handrails, a quarter pipe and staircase allowing boarders to shred on multiple levels. A large, asymmetrical, picnic pavilion provides seating and shade.

On August 25, 2007, the new park opened to the public. Lee and Daniel Johnson say that the public response has been resoundingly thankful and positive. Not one parent has complained of dangers or injury. Most are lauding the park as a great example of our community's service to its kids.

At least one, though, is not. According to comments from a concerned citizen on the website, citizensfirstforblacksburg.org, the park is a menace. Waving the specter of potential lawsuits, the (predictably anonymous) commenter calls for the removal of current mayor Ron Rordam and argues that, like swimming pools, the park should have a fence built around it and a lifeguard on duty to prevent children from accidentally falling in.

In fairness, though, the diatribe contained one glimmer of sense, asserting that skaters would be better off wearing helmets there. When I visited the park only two of the four patrons there were wearing helmets. That's why 16 Blocks Magazine is planning a community helmet drive to outfit those people who need them most.

Now, with every day that passes, the weather warms and I see more little guys carrying their boards uphill past my house, their hair disheveled from the wind and shoes worn unevenly from practicing ollies; hearts warm from exertion and legs exhausted from pumping the transitions of concrete bowls. They are tired from the physical exercise that society so earnestly pleads to the young to embrace, but they are happy and excited because the community gave them a place to skate without legal repercussions.