The Friends of Laramie Skate Park, a subcommittee of the Friends of Community Recreation, was approved a $40,000 budget by the Albany County Recreation Board to expand the current skate park located at La Bonte Park, in Laramie.
In addition to the funds being provided by the recreation board, the group has fundraised approximately $3,000 in small donations and $18,000 in in-kind donations, which are donations of services equated to dollars.
“So, basically, that money ($40,000) will fund a full-pipe that we’ve had donated and a standalone bowl section,” Josh Kaffer, committee chair of the Friends of Laramie Skate Park, said.
These proposed renovations to the skate park will be finished by this summer.
The $18,000 in in-kind donations will come from several businesses across Laramie.
The full-pipe will measure 14-feet by 23.5-feet and will be donated by AAA Recycling, which will also transport the pipe from their location to the skate park. Loveday Crane and Custom Fabrication will assist in placing, installing and securing the full-pipe while Gertsch-Baker Engineering will assist in ensuring the safety of the full-pipe.
Alongside the full-pipe, there will also be a shallow bowl, which will be the start of the larger bowl which will go deeper. Neither of these have a concrete contractor yet, however, following this funding approval, bids for contracts are now able to commence.
“We are looking for concrete contractors to build that shallow bowl, that will be this summer,” Kaffer said.
The Laramie community has been the driving force behind this movement to revitalize the Laramie Skate Park, with more than 40 different volunteers and the donations given from companies across Laramie, this project has been able to create change.
“This isn’t necessarily like whether or not Josh or I are leading it, it’s really a community led effort,” Clint Robinson, one of the leaders of this initiative, said. “So it’s the whole skate community that’s leading that.”
A representation of the support that has been given to this project is the 16 letters attached to the official proposal for the funds. These letters come from community members that felt the need to express the necessity for this expansion with some citing the wide use of the park by community members.
“Those letters of support are actually not from businesses, but they are letters of support from people within the skateboarding community,” Robinson said.
These 16 letters are only some of the letters that the Friends of the Laramie Skate Park have received and are not just from community members that see its need, but also people who use it on a more-than regular basis.
“People who have maybe gone there four or five times a week, over the course of years and have been able to actually see the growth that has happened since the Friends of Laramie Skate Park has taken over helping maintain the skate park,” Robinson said.
The support does not just come from members of the Laramie skate community but the group has also received support from the city, either via organizations or other persons, Robinson said.
The assistance from the community has been crucial in the completion of the proposal and helping the Friends of the Laramie Skate Park to make the changes they wish to see.
“Basically, the core of this project is those in-kind donations, and really we couldn’t even have paid for them with our small economy and our small services industries, word of mouth and people who know people have really made this happen,” Kaffer said.
