A planned public skatepark in State College is getting a big boost from skateboarding’s most well-known star.
Tony Hawk’s The Skatepark Project is giving a $30,000 grant to the fundraising effort for the 20,000-square-foot High Point Skatepark, for which organizers are hoping to break ground next spring.
The nonprofit, founded by Hawk, works to increase access to free outdoor recreation and has awarded more than $10 million in grants to help create nearly 700 skateparks nationwide.
“The Skatepark Project is proud to support a project like the High Point Skatepark,” Benjamin Anderson Bashein, executive director of The Skatepark Project, said in a statement. “It’s clear that so many from the community have come together to get this project off the ground; their dedication, hard work and engagement is inspiring and we look forward to seeing them reach their fundraising and ground breaking goals.”
Designed for wheeled sports like skateboarding, BMX biking, rollerskating and scootering, the wheelchair-accessible skatepark will be located at High Point Park, off of Whitehall Road in State College.
With an estimated cost of $1.9 million, organizers have raised more than $800,000, including $500,000 from DCNR and DCED grants, $200,000 from State College Borough and another $100,000 from local residents. A campaign launched this month aims to raise $50,000 in small donations from the community to demonstrate local support to other large donors.
“We are so excited that The Skatepark Project saw the need in our community for a skatepark and decided to help our efforts,” Gordon Kaufman III, a volunteer organizer for the project and State College resident, said in a news release. “Its support is a huge boon to our fundraising efforts and ultimate goal of building a safe place where kids can skate and hang out with their friends.”
Tussey Mountain has been home to a skatepark for skateboards, bikes and scooters since 2001, but community members have long sought a more easily accessible, and free-to-use, venue in the immediate State College area.
Talk of a free public skatepark in State College dates back at least 25 years, but the effort gained significant momentum in 2016 when a group of local parents and community members began working with the borough on a plan for what has been called an “action sports park.” In 2017, State College Borough Council voted to include the project in its Capital Improvement Plan and since then borough officials have worked to secure grants and determine a location, while volunteers led the charge on private fundraising and planning.
After a long period of discussion and multiple committees, the underutilized High Point Park was selected as the location. It’s located a short distance from State High and 1.7 miles from downtown State College, and it’s accessible by car, CATA bus and a bike path.
Jake Johnson, a professional skateboarder and State College native who opened IQ Skateshop on South Pugh Street last year, and his father, Tim, a professor emeritus of landscape architecture at Penn State, came on board over the last two years to develop the concept for the design, drawing on features from locations Jake has skated at across the United States and around the world.
He also helped enlist New Line Skateparks, which has led design and construction on more than 350 municipal projects, last fall to develop final technical designs and construction plans.
A draft design was presented to State College Borough Council in February and, after gathering community feedback organizers developed a final design in the spring.
“State College has a growing skate community and a skatepark is just what it needs to flourish,” Johnson said. “I’m happy to do what I can to help make it happen.”
The plaza-style facility will replace the unused baseball field at High Point Park, taking up about 3 acres of the 6-acre park. It will be designed for all skill levels with amenities for park and street-style riding with ledges, stairs, rails, banks, a mini-ramp area, a brick volcano, quarterpipe, planting areas with boulders for seating spots and a center courtyard with a large granite pad.
To donate or learn more about the skatepark’s development visit highpointskatepark.com.
