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Sneak peek at Fall River’s new skate park, designed by native skaters
Fall River’s new skate park at Lafayette Park was created by and for native skaters. Meet them and get a sneak peek.
- The skate park in Fall River’s Lafayette Park is reopening May 24 after months of development.
- The skate park had fallen into extreme disrepair for years.
- Local skaters managed to get $250,000 in ARPA funds put aside to rebuild it, and redesigned the plans.
FALL RIVER — When Michael Poirier was a scholar at B.M.C. Durfee High School within the mid-2010s, he’d carry his skateboard to class and stash it within the workplace of the vice principal: Paul Coogan.
“I left my skateboard in Coogan’s office in high school so frequently, because they’d be like, ‘Don’t bring it in the hallway, you’re skating in the hallway,’” he stated. “Now, I just went to the mayor’s office and talked about a skate park.”
Poirier is certainly one of a bunch of buddies and native skaters who helped Coogan’s administration overhaul the dilapidated Lafayette skate park. He, Courtney Ross, Devon Molina and others have spent years serving to with a significant redesign and reconstruction — one which’s not solely extra enjoyable for them however an area attraction for the rising skating group, one thing they’ll hand all the way down to new generations of skaters. It’s able to open, with a ribbon-cutting set for Sunday, May 24.
“They did this park right,” Poirier stated.
“We helped make it right,” Ross stated.
New Lafayette skate park is years within the making
The skate park is tucked away behind the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Pool, a sea of contemporary easy concrete bursting with rails, quarter-pipes, half-pipes, ledges, spines and extra. It doesn’t formally open till Sunday, May 24, at 11 a.m., the place it’ll be unveiled for the primary time.
But Ross, Molina and Poirier, together with loads of different skaters young and old, have already hopped the 6-foot fence to attempt it out. It’s too tempting.
Ross, a roller-skater, stated she began in 2021 to get the skate park rebuilt.
“I saw that the skate park was in extreme disrepair,” she stated. “So I went on this quest to annoy the Parks Department, annoy the mayor. Any chance I could get, I was on social media tagging them, posting pictures.”
In March 2021, town agreed to dedicate ARPA funds to fixing its badly uncared for skate parks at Lafayette, North Park and Abbott Court. But at $40,000, it was simply sufficient to fill just a few cracks.
Ross stated she thought town wanted to spend just a little extra and concentrate on one park “to make a more meaningful impact” — somewhat than throw away cash making minimal enhancements to 3 poor skate parks, make one park the very best it might be.
The metropolis ended up dedicating $250,000 to demolish the outdated skate park and rebuild it from scratch with designs from Grindline Skate Parks.
Molina stated the preliminary design was type of weak. The metropolis reached out to skaters.
Together, that they had two weeks to enhance it — about 20,000 sq. ft of terrain to construct what they thought was greatest.
“The original design was all what’s called transitions. … There weren’t any type of street features,” Ross stated.
They reworked the design, which has a pump monitor, transitions, ramps, avenue options, various kinds of options all meant to work collectively so a skater can circulation easily from one part of the park to a different. It’s purpose-built by and for individuals who trip skateboards, inline skates, curler skates, bikes, scooters. They’re welcoming to anybody who rides in any respect ranges, and wish the house to be welcoming too.
“It really just comes together in a way that Lafayette didn’t before,” Poirier stated. “I think a new, intermediate, or advanced skater can walk into the park and be like, ‘This is actually insane.’”
Lafayette Park is a particular place for skaters
The challenge being at Lafayette Park is uniquely particular. The park was in pitiful form for over a decade.
“I spent most of my childhood growing up in Somerset, but I would come here. I would skate here from Somerset, all the way from Somerset, pretty much every day after school,” Molina stated. His mother labored in Fall River, and if on the finish of her shift he wasn’t able to be picked up, “I’d skate back home.”
“Second home doesn’t describe how close it was for me,” Poirier stated. “This meant so much to me it’s ridiculous.”
Ross grew up near Abbott, but began hanging out at Laffy as an adult when she picked up park skating. They’re hoping more people who haven’t been on wheels in a while come by to check out what the improvements. She’s shared pics in the Skaters Over 30 Facebook group.
“There were so many people that were like, ‘I haven’t skated since the ‘90s, but I think I might have to hop back on a board for this,’” she stated.
“We’re not the first generation to try to get this redone. We’re just the one that has been successful,” Ross stated. In years previous, she stated, folks on the metropolis stage had no buy-in — or noticed skate parks as a nuisance.
“I think that times have changed a little bit,” Molina stated. “They’re trying to revive the city. … I think their ears are a little bit more open to hearing from the community about something like this.”
They said skating gives kids like they once were something positive and healthy to do. The skating community is built on mentorship and mutual appreciation. The older generation taught them to skate, and they’re passing the knowledge and the love forward. When Molina and Poirier pulled off tricks on their boards, Ross gently stomped her skates, clapping her wheels on the concrete like applause. Other skaters glide by, impressed by the flow of the design. Curious young kids who also hopped the fence got a rundown of the new park and a pep talk from Ross about not listening to skaters trying to shame them for wearing safety pads.
That they were able to collaborate with the city to build this, and that it’s exceeded their expectations, makes all of them emotional.
“I’m huge about the kids. I was a kid coming here. This was my activity,” Molina said. “Look at the hype already. This is going to be something big for the kids.”
“It’s always cool to give back to your community,” Ross said. “Never forget that.”
The official ribbon-cutting is set for Sunday, May 24, at 11 a.m., with Turner Bros. food trucks on hand.
This web page was created programmatically, to learn the article in its unique location you possibly can go to the hyperlink bellow:
https://www.heraldnews.com/story/lifestyle/2026/05/18/fall-river-lafayette-skate-park-to-reopen-on-may-24/90134566007/
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