Westside Skatepark Open
The Westside Recreation Centre Skatepark is open for the season. Hours are currently weekdays 4PM – dusk and weekends noon – dusk.
Stabbing At Millennium Park Something to Worry About? Hardly.
Two adult men were allegedly stabbed at Shaw Millennium Skateboard Park early Friday morning.
This kind of violence happens all over the city and is not skateboard-related. Had it have happened in a church parking lot would that make it a church related stabbing? Likely not. We see such violence and associated crime throughout our city and in our own communities—more often than not near convenience stores and neighbourhood pubs. Does that make Mac’s or 7-11 the cause? No, it does not.
The Calgary Association of Skateboarding Enthusiasts (CASE), while troubled that such violence has erupted at our only City owned and operated skateboard park, is confident that Calgary skateboarders, including the very young, the families that skate and the elder skaters will remain as safe at Shaw Millennium Skateboard Park as anywhere else in the city.
And while details of the ongoing police investigation are few and far between at this juncture, we do not believe that there were any skateboarders involved in the attack that saw 2 adult men taken to hospital and 4 adult men arrested by police.
We caution the media to be careful to not paint skateboarding with this crime that in all likelihood occurred where it did due more to chance or geography than anything skateboard related.
Click here to read an early media report from CBC News.
Medicine Hat Cold Hard Cash Competition
You gotta hand it to the Medicine Hat Skateboard Association. These guys lost their indoor skatepark when the roof caved in about a month ago. They were helping out less than a week later, raising money for charity with a bottle drive.
Well, the MHSA is at it again: they’re still throwing their annual competition, “Cold Hard Cash” on Saturday, March 19th. Check the poster for details:
Lethbridge Skatepark Planning Meeting
Looks like the City of Lethbridge will be exploring their need for more skateparks. The LSA has been making some noise for a while now and their city is listening. On Tuesday, March 1 there is a meeting in the Culver Room at Lethbridge City Hall from 7PM -9PM.
New Nanton Skatepark to Honour Fallen Soldier
Cpl Nathan Hornberg (KOCR Photo)
The town of Nanton is an agricultural community 75 KM south of Calgary, the home of about 2100, and soon to be home to a new skatepark.
When he was growing up, Nathan Hornberg used to spend his summers at the family ranch not far from town. An avid skateboarder, Nathan enjoyed the challenges, the creativity, and the freedom of skateboarding. Nathan spent several years in the reserves, volunteering to serve as the driver of an armoured vehicle in Afghanistan. On September 24, 2007 Cpl. Nathan Hornberg was killed while working to recover a damaged tank. The new skatepark in Nanton is being built in his memory.
The new Nanton skatepark will be built on some unused tennis courts near the Nanton Community Centre. Vancouver-based Spectrum Skatepark Creations has designed an 8138 sq ft street-style plaza with a good sized bowl. Once completed, the Nanton skatepark will be the best park between Calgary and Taber, and provide an excellent place for skatepark starved Calgary skaters to go for a session with a very reasonable 45 minute drive to get there.
Nanton Skatepark design by Spectrum
The Nanton skatepark committee is raising money to get the skatepark built, hopefully in 2011. It would be great if some skaters from Calgary, Okotoks, High River and other communities could contribute to getting this park built, especially since Nanton also has to raise money to repair their rec centre which was closed in December when the roof was found to be unsafe. If you can help, here’s where you can find out how.
CASE on Skaters for Public Skateparks Website
Skaters for Public Skateparks published a little article giving a nod to CASE and the plight of skaters in Calgary. Click the photo below to read it:
