It is tough being a skateboarder. Grown-ups, who never skateboarded themselves, sometimes perceive skaters a certain way and Greg Hutchinson, an Emerson College junior from Oxford Hills says that was a challenge for the people behind a multi-year effort to build a skate park in his town. “The ‘skate punk’ vision was prominent in this town,” he says.

Nevertheless, after several years and several dozen meetings and presentations and fund-raisers and grants, the people of Oxford Hills are justifiably proud of their 7000 square-foot facility. John Parsons, of the Oxford Hills School Department, which owns the land the park sits on, says a lot of people spent a lot of hours making this dream a reality.

Aroundmaine.com heard about the skate park a couple of weeks ago, and having at my disposal a fifteen year-old skateboard aficionado and skate park critic, I decided we should go look at what they have in South Paris and see how it compares with what other southern Maine towns have to offer.

My son James and his friend Calvin grabbed their boards and helmets and we headed up Route 26 to Oxford Hills a day before the grand opening celebration to see if the wild claims we’d heard about the facility were true. While we waited for John Parsons to arrive, the ledges, rails, bowls and ramps of gleaming concrete had them anxious to try.

It’s been six years from the time Oxford Hills freshmen students Greg Hutchinson and Bentley Hamilton decided that a skate park would be good for the community. Over the years they did the research, met the deadlines, and made the presentations- working through the system, overcoming objections and obstacles and finding a way to make things happen, and, as Hutchinson says, “Provide a healthy place that’s safe for the sport.”

With childhood obesity a growing public concern, the Skate Park Committee went to meeting after meeting, trying to make their case with all of the many stakeholders involved in the process. For high-school student Hutchinson, the process led to developing some, “Amazing public speaking skills.”

About three years ago, Dave Bean joined the effort at a time the skate park project seemed to be, “At a point of impasse.” As the skating coach at Bethel’s Gould Academy, Bean says he’s been skating for forty years. He was contacted by Jeannie Stone, who he describes as, “The person of continuity on the skate park committee.”

Bean gives most of the credit for the design to Hutchinson and Hamilton. He says they just came over and told him what they were looking for. Bean says his skating experience, “Enables me to understand pretty clearly what the teenagers wanted in a park and then communicate that with people our age.”

The two skaters I brought along from Portland were pleased by the park and said they wished there was something like it closer to where they live. They were particularly impressed by the concrete construction – something rare in municipal skate parks around here. A 16,000 square-foot park is currently under construction in Lewiston and set to open in August.

Bean says you can't really judge a park from a brief visit anyway, because it will take skaters several weeks to "dial in" the park, to learn how to best exploit rails and rims and rams and bowls. He says the park is designed to give skaters of all levels a challenge.

The legendary Wally Hollyday, who has designed skate parks all over the country, was brought in to refine the design. Hutchinson says the skateboard committee looked into all kinds of construction, but concrete proved to be the quietest, and easiest to maintain, and provided the most dynamic skating experience. “It makes sense to build concrete,” says Bean.

The design includes concrete bowls, rails, dips, spines, ramps and steps, all laid out so skaters, bikers, and roller-bladers can test their skills, no matter how proficient they are.

On opening day in South Paris 33 year-old skate and graffiti artist Eli Cayer of Portland was on hand to apply some of his art to the new Oxford Hills Park. Cayer, a prime mover behind the non-profit group “Mensk”, is working to bring a similar park to Portland. Cayer would like to see a concrete park built in the shadow of the Casco Bay Bridge in an old railroad underpass called the Clark Street Viaduct, but the city is also looking at other plans, including locations at Payson Park and Douglas Field. The next meeting about Portland’s skate park plans is on July 11. Hollyday’s company offered Oxford Hills the opportunity to cut the expense significantly by allowing outside workers to do parts of the construction that didn’t require specialized skills, like excavating, flat concrete and rebar. The Hollyday company supervised volunteers. Using donated labor and materials allowed the skate committee to save 30% of the park's $180,000 price tag and made the park a real community effort. In the end the park cost under $120,000, all of which was raised through donations and grants. No public funds were tapped. “Everybody just donated,” says Bean, “Anytime something needed to be done, someone stepped in.” Even though the park is located in South Paris, on land the town gave to the school department for that purpose, Bean and Parsons both had special praise for the support and contributions from the town of Norway, whose town crews did most of the excavations.

On June 17, the eight towns that make up the Oxford Hills School District-- Harrison, Hebron, Oxford, Otisfield, Norway, Paris, Waterford, and West Paris -- formally opened one of the best municipal skate parks certainly in Southern Maine. Dozens of people participated in one way or another to the realization of the dream that started six years ago in the minds of two Oxford Hills High School freshmen.

Wally Hollyday's www.skatedesign.com Oxford Hills School Department     by Chad Gilley aroundmaine.com June 26, 2006

Hutchinson is pretty happy his town now has what he calls, "The best in-ground concrete park in New England.” The park isn’t completely finished though. Plans call for another, larger bowl behind the current structure. That’s going to require another $80,000. Greg Hutchinson says it’s also going to require a new wave of students willing to step into the leadership positions he and Bentley Hamilton have occupied for the last six years. The youth of the community have the opportunity to perfect their skills and they have an affirmation in concrete of their place in their towns. They also have a place to gather and share their passion for their sport and create a community of their own around it. John Parsons, who has worked in the Oxford Hills School Department for decades says, “These communities have always come out for the kids.”