STORY AND PHOTO BY KAREN BOSSICK
Seven shovels full of dirt, and Ketchum’s skateboard park is on its way to what Ketchum Mayor Nina Jonas refers to as “the third edition of the Guy Coles Skate Park.”
“This will bring the whole park together. It’ll be one-third bigger but twice as good,” said Jim Slanetz, Ketchum City Councilman and owner of The Board Bin.
Skateboarders, city leaders and an engineer from Dreamland Skateparks donned hard hats and lifted shiny new shovels on a drippy Monday afternoon to break ground on the new addition to the 22-year-old park at the corner of Warm Springs and Saddle roads.
Local skateboarders chose the final design. Builders hope to finish the project by the end of October.
Annie Corrock, John Carney and Jan Mason reminisced about how large blue planks used to provide the thrills and spills for local skateboarders.
The park itself was sort-of cutting edge when it was built in 1995. It was expanded in 2005 to include two new concrete bowls, thanks in part to a fundraising campaign spearheaded by snowboard coach Andy Gilbert and his legions.
The City of Ketchum and others—specifically, the Board Bin’s sale of skateboard art decorated by local artists and boarders—provided $127,650 to take the park to the next level.
“This section has always been unfinished and consequently there’s no flow that brings you back,” said skateboarder David Kelso. “The finished park will have some similarities with the park in Hailey. But you really don’t want the same thing since they’re so close together.”
The park already features at least one unique feature—that of a vertical clamshell or what Gilbert refers to as an “over vert.”
When the expansion is done, the park will also feature a fire hydrant that skateboarders will be able to ollie—or jump over. It will also feature a big horseshoe that will take skaters back to the existing park.
“It’ll have something for everybody,” promised Mark Scott, co-owner of the Lincoln City, Ore.-based Dreamland Skateparks, which also built the Hailey Skate Park.
The park will be user friendly, with several areas beginners will be able to dip into. Yet it will have enough challenges to keep experienced skateboarders engaged.
“It’ll be super cool for contests as boarders will be able to go all over,” said Gilbert.
Skateboarding is a great cross training sport for the skiers and boarders on the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation’s teams, as it enhances their balance and agility and allows them to practice grabs and other skills, said Gilbert.
And the park is easily one of Ketchum’s most popular parks, said Jen Smith, the city’s parks and recreation director. This time of the year all the boarders are on top of each other because of the time constraints provided by school and shorter days.
“But during summer it’s got a great flow to it with younger kids coming early, then the middle school bunch after they’ve slept in. The high school bunch shows up after 3 and the old men after work,” said Gilbert. “I drove by Sunday and there were easily between 50 and 75 boarders using it both times.”