While skateboarders have been flocking to the Kiwanis skate park ever since the snow melted, skate park committee members have not forgot there’s still plenty of fundraising to be done to pay for it.
And they’re planning to kick things into high gear next month—starting a campaign that will carry on until the more than $100,000 needed is raised.
Skate park committee chair Rob Tovey said this morning the first fundraiser will be a social, with a live band and silent auction, sometime in early June.
More details such as date, location, and time, will be revealed in the near future, but Tovey hinted the event will tie in with “a new business that’s opened.”
This will be followed by a skateboarding competition in late June, possibly tying in with Canada Day.
Called the “Fort Frances Skateboard Open,” the inaugural event will be held at the new park, with pro skateboarder and skate park designer Andrew Kondrat of Barkman Concrete and Skates & Blades owner Chris McKinnon judging he competition.
Tovey said the committee is hoping the competition draws youths from across the region. It will feature different age categories—and trophies for the winners.
Skateboarders will pay an entry fee which, in turn, will go towards paying off the park. It also may be opened to BMX riders.
Tovey said this will be the first of many such events to be organized using the facility itself to generate revenue, and hopefully becomes an annual competition to which people can look forward.
“Those are the two June promotions. For July, we’re still working on them,” Tovey noted. “We intend to have at least a couple every month. We want to be out there all summer.”
Looking to the fall, Tovey said the committee also may try to line up AHL exhibition games here featuring the Manitoba Moose as fundraisers.
Skate park fundraisers from earlier this year included the Voyageur Lions’ “Polar Plunge” on New Year’s Day and a barbecue last week in conjunction with the Northern Do-it center’s annual home show.
While Tovey said he’d love to be able to have a raffle fundraiser, the fact the town owns the property on which the skate park stands means the committee can’t qualify for a lottery licence.
In related news, committee members continue to promote the “Brick the Park” campaign to local individuals and businesses.
Bricks cost $100 each and will be installed to form a patio surrounding the skate park, with individual, family, or company names on each brick (or set of bricks).
Anyone wanting to buy bricks, or simply make a donation, can drop by Skates & Blades (648 Scott St.), or call Tovey (274-6113), Patsy Roy (274-4244), Keith Knapp (274-7447), or Duane Cridland (274-7716).
Tovey noted he’s heard the Town of Fort Frances has written up an financing agreement regarding the skate park, and expects the Kiwanis Club membership to receive it—and vote on it—later this month.
Back In January, the town’s Administration and Finance executive committee made three recommendations in response to the skate park committee’s request for a capital contribution of $75,000 and bridge financing of $50,000 repayable over five years at zero percent interest.
The first was to honour a $25,000 donation to the skate park the previous council had made. The second was to sit down with the skate park committee and review what has gone on so far, and come up with “an amicable solution to the problem.”
The executive committee also recommended the town, pending further consultation, be willing to assist the skate park committee with landscaping there this spring or summer.
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
