AMESBURY — After years of fundraising and weeks of work, local skaters will soon have the chance to kickflip to their heart’s content on a new addition to the Brian Eldredge Memorial Skate Park.
Originally built in the 1990s, the skate park in Amesbury’s Town Park was named after Brian Eldredge in 2018, a local skater who passed away that year.
In the years since, a local committee which includes his mother, Donna Eldredge, skate park designer/builder Tom Dupere and more have come together to improve the park.
That work led to a section of the park being revamped during phase one of improvements six years ago. Since then the Brian Eldredge Memorial Skate Park Committee has been fundraising for phase two, with a goal of $130,000.
Unfortunately, the committee came up shy of their goal, but had planned a design based on their fundraising efforts. However, recently they were able to reach the $130,000 mark thanks to a donation by Merrimac-based philanthropist Dan Healey.
Dupere said Healey’s donation made a substantial impact on the skate park design, and allowed for the addition of an obstacle called a volcano, a transition ramp with a flat top in the shape of an actual volcano.
“That was great. He came in right when we needed it. He was super great, he helped us as well with doing some asphalt removal. So that was huge,” he said of Healey’s donation.
Healey said he was happy to donate to the effort as the skate park is an important part of the community.
“It’s one of the many activities that we have in town, and I think the diversity is great. This skate park needed attention, and I feel it’s a spot where the community can get together. You have older skateboarders and young skateboarders, and mentors and new people learning. I think it’s a great little circle down there,” he said.
So, with the goal reached, a crew of five people, including Dupere, have been working on the phase two addition for the last three and a half weeks.
Dupere said the addition is in an old section of the park and is approximately 4,000 square feet worth of ramps, new concrete and obstacles called banks, slanted slopes skaters can do tricks on.
“It was an existing old section of the park. It was asphalt and a couple of crumbling old prefab concrete ramps. We tore out the asphalt, and we put stone down on the ground. We did a really nice pad to get everything ready, and then we built on top of that the same way we did phase one, and it was great,” he said.
Soon, that addition will be ready for skaters, and Dupere said he hopes that section of the park will be skateable as early as Wednesday.
Now, as the years-long effort comes to an end, Dupere said he is excited to see phase two completed and watch local skaters enjoy the addition.
“We’ve been working towards this for a long time. And I’ve been skating at the park for 30 years at this point. So, to be able to build something new and bring some new life back to the park and give back to the community is great,” he said.