City of Crown Point brings life to the half pipe with ribbon cutting ceremony for new Crown Point Skate Park

On Wednesday, October 15, the City of Crown Point hosted a ribbon cutting ceremony to honor the opening of its brand new Crown Point Skate Park. Located right next to the Crown Point Sportsplex, the skatepark officially opened to the public as soon as the ribbon was cut.

Mayor Peter Land was pleased with the impressive turnout on opening day. He knows how much skateboarding means to the people of Crown Point. While the old skatepark still has a lot of sentimental value to him, he believes this new skatepark will see immediate success and appreciation from plenty of skaters in Northwest Indiana.

“It’s a very exciting day for our Region and our city,” Land said. “So many people are going to use this skatepark. Our first skatepark in Crown Point was built around 25 years ago. It has served our city very well, but we knew it was time to let it retire after a lot of blood, sweat, and tears of trying to maintain it.”

The new skatepark has been highly anticipated by the Crown Point community. Many attendees arrived more than a half hour before the ribbon cutting, cruising in front of the skatepark on their boards and bikes before the start of the program and opening to the community. There’s several new features to this skatepark that are going to be an instant hit.

“It’s all concrete, as opposed to the skate-like material that we’ve had in the past,” said Jennie Burgess, parks director for the City of Crown Point. “We have a half pipe near the front, a six-foot half pipe on the other side, and a flow bowl. We had no flow bowl or peanut bowl in the past, so this one is a completely different design.”

The vision for this skatepark started in 2022. The City of Crown Point began mapping out what it would look like with an effort to have new projects that complement the city. Three projects were presented to Bill Hanna, executive director of the Dean and Barbara White Family Foundation, which led to the foundation approving a $2.81 million grant request in full for the City of Crown Point to bring these projects to life.

“Whenever we can expand on a project that enhances our quality or life in the community, we’re going to do it,” Land said. “Our vision was that we wanted locations that serve everyone. We have people who are going to love this skatepark, along with Sauerman Woods Park and the extension of the Veteran’s Memorial Trail.”

With the new skatepark located on the south side of the Crown Point Sportsplex, it comes to a location that is surrounded by other sports facilities for athletes in the city. This includes baseball, soccer, softball, football, and lacrosse. The expectation is that with the addition of the new skatepark, there will be an increase in spillover that lures some of these athletes, their family and friends to test out the rails and ramps.

“Our families who might have a child that’s playing softball or football, their other kid can bring their skateboard and come to the park while the other one is playing,” Land said. “It’s a huge benefit that we’re able to have all of these facilities on the Sportsplex campus.”

For a community like Crown Point that continues to grow, it’s important to continue upgrading facilities for its residents to enjoy.

“These people see Crown Point as a terrific community that works hard to bring new amenities for our residents and visitors,” Burgess said. “People of all ages and all abilities can show off their skills or learn from others at this skatepark. There’s something here for everybody.”

This new skatepark was a team effort from top to bottom for the City of Crown Point. With multiple departments, construction crews, and skateboard companies lending a hand on this project, Land considers this project to be well worth the wait.

“I’m thankful for our Crown Point City Council, our Crown Point Board of Public Works and Safety, and our fantastic city workforce team,” Land said. “We had a bunch of different departments that all pitched in, either planning or by helping out our PACE engineering and parks department. We have some rockstar city employees.” For more information on the City of Crown Point, you can visit crownpoint.in.gov.