Members of the Little Rock skateboarding community were joined by Mayor Mark Stodola and other city officials in Kanis Park Monday morning to receive a check for $150,000. In addition to comments by city officials, Allen Taylor, a member of the local skate community, spoke about the history of the park and his vision for improvements.
Taylor said he was excited about “more stuff to skate obviously, but tying the existing bowl into our DIY stuff – there’s nothing else like that around the country so this is really awesome. It’s quite a feat.”
The current skate park has been mostly a do-it-yourself effort paid for out of pocket by the skate community for the past 10 years. Planned renovations include expanding the current skate park, adding new batting cages, drinking fountains, and lights.
The money comes from a “Refreshing Community Spaces” grant as part of a partnership between Coca-Cola and National Recreation and Parks Association. Similar grants have been awarded across the country as an effort to promote physical activity in community parks.
