By Patrick Olivero
MIDDLETOWN – Dozens of skaters turned out Tuesday afternoon, March 12 to help launch the new Sk8 Park at Bill Kunkel Memorial Park in the Leonardo section of the township.
Located along the Henry Hudson Trail, the facility, on the site of a former roller hockey rink, can be used for skateboarding, inline skating and scootering. The park is open to all ages and genders; a wide range of shredders was stoked to try some gnarly tricks on opening day, delayed from Saturday, March 9, due to the weather.
The idea to create the park stemmed from the COVID-19 lockdown, when homebound residents took to skateboarding as a new hobby. The community of skateboarders built a DIY skate park in the abandoned hockey rink, which was eventually shut down by the township. But inspired by the skaters’ ingenuity, township officials established the new skate park on the heels of its predecessor.
Before the new skate park, Kunkel Park was “sitting here dilapidated,” Mayor Tony Perry said during the ribbon-cutting event. “Now we have this beautiful skatepark for not just Leonardo, not just Middletown, but right here on the Henry Hudson Trail for everybody to enjoy.”
Officials hope Sk8 Park will inspire coming generations to give skateboarding and similar outdoor hobbies a try.
The opening day event included raffles, a helmet safety presentation by Hackensack Meridian Health’s Pediatric Injury Prevention staff members, free walk-up skateboarding lessons for kids and more.
“This park is killer,” Perry proclaimed.
The article originally appeared in the March 21 –March 27, 2024 print edition of The Two River Times.
