Cd'A skaters take their tricks to temporary skatepark site

COEUR d’ALENE — Nathan “Ope” Baker said it took the Coeur d’Alene Skatepark being torn down last month, and the overwhelming outpouring of grief at the loss, to truly understand just what the park meant to the local extreme sports community.

“It was a home away from home for a lot of these kids,” Baker, a North Idaho Skate Park Association board member, said. “Now, we’re building a temporary skatepark. We’re building a little community for these guys again.”

The temporary skatepark — located at 1355 E. Best Ave. in Coeur d’Alene and affectionately called a refugee camp for area skaters — is still being put together and features several ramps pulled from the location of the old skatepark at Four Corners. Construction on a new, $400,000 skatepark on Northwest Boulevard and Garden Avenue is set to begin in the spring of 2018.

In the meantime, the temporary location will serve as a home for the community to instill the next generation with the resilience gained from a sport founded on independence and personal growth. It will also serve as a place for the community to gather and fondly remember a concrete home where they met lifelong friends.

“I met all of these guys at the skatepark — it’s like a social club,” Jason Olsen, another association board member, told The Press Monday at the temporary park. “The old skatepark wasn’t planned out by skaters like the new one is, so it was pretty janky. But that janky park really bred some good skaters. It was always this mentality that if you skate here, you could skate anything.”

Also at the park Monday was Coeur d’Alene City Councilman Woody McEvers, a longtime supporter of the local skateboard community, who fondly recalled watching association members grow into the leaders they are today.

“It’s one of those sports you learn by yourself,” McEvers said while watching skaters show off their skills. “You learn by falling down and getting back up again. That instills a resilience in you that carries throughout your life.”

“A lot of these guys end up being amazing entrepreneurs because of that aspect,” Olsen added. “They’re used to trying something, failing, and then getting back up and trying again.”

Part of the entrepreneurial spirit has led to the association working closely with city officials on a brand new skatepark in the revitalized Four Corners area. Ignite cda, the city’s urban renewal agency, has earmarked $200,000 of the $1.5 million in funds given to the Four Corners project toward the new park.

Now, it’s largely up to the skaters to hit the pavement and earn the remaining $200,000 that will make the park they themselves designed a reality.

“If we get a big enough donation, Woody said he’s dropping in,” joked board member Brian White while pointing to a quarter-pipe at the temporary park.

“Yeah, you guys can just photoshop me in there,” McEvers responded with a laugh.

For more information on the new skatepark, and how to donate, follow the group on Facebook at www.facebook.com/cdask8prk.