Tim Preston/The Independent
Grayson — With a couple of field trips behind them and another scheduled soon, skateboard enthusiasts in Carter County are carving plans for a new skatepark in Grayson and plotting strategies to raise money for the facility.
“They’re really starting to get serious,” said Pat Collier, publicity chairman for the Carter County Skateboarding Association, explaining the young people involved in the effort to build the skatepark are running their own meetings and took it upon themselves to start meeting twice a month.
With 21 skateboarders on the roster, Collier said the group’s meetings are expected to focus on developing a design for the skatepark in Grayson as well as strategies for fundraising.
The Carter County skateboarders have been enjoying their research for the project, including visits to established skateparks and participation in the recent 2009 Memory Days festival in Grayson.
“They had a blast at the Memory Days parade,” Collier said with a giggle, explaining the skaters had some difficulty riding their favorite decks along the parade route because of the amount of candy on the streets.
Blake Kovi, 16, president of the sssociation, said skaters enjoyed recent trips to Florence, Louisville and Athens, Ohio, to research “extreme” skateparks. Some of the features at those parks may be incorporated into plans for a skatepark in Grayson, he said.
“We’d really like a mini ramp — about a 6-foot mini ramp — and a bowl. That would be nice,” Kovi said.
Initial ideas for the design of a skatepark for Grayson are “kind of simple, kind of elaborate,” he added.
Kovi said he is uncertain about the group’s goal for future fundraising efforts, although he is confident the community will support the project. Kovi said skateboarders who haven’t gotten involved in the skatepark effort are encouraged to join the association for the next meeting and field trip.
“We need as many as we can get,” Kovi said.
If supporters can raise enough money to pay for it, the proposed skatepark facility will be part of a sports complex being developed in Grayson.
The next research trip will be to the D.C. Plaza Skatepark in Kettering, Ohio, on June 20. The group’s next meeting will be 6:30 p.m. Thursday at the First Church of Christ Family Life Center at the corner of Third and Pomeroy streets in Grayson.
For more information about the group, call Andy Tomaselli at (606) 475-9626.
TIM PRESTON can be reached at tpreston@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2651.
