by Carla Caruso

A community event will help celebrate the success of the new skate park in Gladys Elphick Park / Narnungga (Park 25) tomorrow (Saturday, 8 October) - a month after it opened.

The City Skate Park, near the corner of West Terrace and Glover Avenue, was unveiled on September 3 after much delay due to construction pressures caused by the pandemic.

*Details of the large community event, care of On The Flip Side.*

Funded by the City of Adelaide and state and federal governments, the $3.8 million facility finally provides a permanent site for Adelaide’s skate community. A former skate park on North Terrace was demolished in 2015 to make way for the expanding biomedical precinct.

To mark the facility’s launch, the City of Adelaide and On The Flip Side are hosting a free, all-ages Skate Daze event tomorrow: Saturday, October 8.

The event – from 11am to 4pm – will feature live music, food trucks, skating demonstrations, and more.

*There are areas for all levels of riders at the skate park. Photo: James Elsby.*

On The Flip Side’s Susan Evans is expecting between 500 and 1000 people to attend, judging by similar events held in Marion and St Clair.

Susan’s full of praise for the new skate park. “I think it’s the biggest one in South Australia and the only one of four that have the [competition-level] skate bowl that they have, in all of Australia. So, that’s really cool.

“Skateboarding, in general, is a great way to get young people out there – active, socialising, getting off screens.

“Research shows that the more you’re on social media, the more anxiety and things it can bring. So just getting kids out there [is good].”

*Skaters enjoying the new facility. Photo:* *James Elsby*.

She adds: “The event skate days [also] bring a new clientele of youth to the skating community that otherwise might have been a bit more intimidated.

“A lot of the musicians or artists [attending] might not be exposed to skating very much and this gives them that safe environment to see what it’s about, ask questions, and have a try. Everyone’s always very welcoming.”

Surf and skate shop Daily Grind is helping run the skating component of the event and will also stage an after-party.

*Daily Grind’s Tom Henry said the skate bowl, with its vertical cradle, was “top quality, competition level”. Photo: James Elsby.*

Daily Grind staff member Tom Henry is stoked that the skate park’s “just around the corner” from his Gilbert Street workplace too.

“It’s something that we’ve been waiting for, for ages. It’s been so many years in the making. People were hanging out for it and it’s finally here and it’s really well-designed [care of Melbourne firm Convic]. The city finally has a skate park again; a proper one.”

*Scooter riders, cyclists and skaters can all have a turn at the skate park. Photo: James Elsby.*

Tom adds: “There’s a lot of opportunity for growth for kids, coming up and learning. They’re not going to be held back by a lack of facilities by having such a good park there – from the actual bowl perspective and also just the other obstacles around the place as well.

“It’s just exciting to see what kids are going to be doing with it down the track as well. Obviously, access to top-quality skate parks is only getting greater, so with that comes [the fact that] a kid’s going to grow up with that just down the road from them. Like, what could they potentially do with it [sport-wise]?”

*Scooter rider Sebastian Elsby, 9, thinks the new skate park is “rad”. Photo: James Elsby.*

Along with the large bowl featuring a daunting-looking vertical cradle, the facility also has grinding rails, ledges, and stair sets. Aspects of the design give a nod to the Adelaide Festival Plaza in Tarntanya Wama (Park 26) and Hindley Street.

Three distinct sections cater to amateurs, veterans, and those ‘in between’ – and BMX riders, in-liners, and scooterers are welcome too.

A spokesman from the City of Adelaide said the new skate park had been an overwhelming success so far, with a number of people using the “state-of-the-art” facility, both day and night. (Floodlights have been installed around the site to ensure safety after dark.)