Skateboarders roll past indoor park this summer

The roar of skateboards used to pour out of the city's only indoor skateboard park when it opened in winter, but with summer's arrival the ramps are quiet.

The indoor skate park was set up at the back of Ten Foot Touque on Central Avenue in February, and from then until late spring it attracted about six people every day, sometimes as many as 15.

Now, it's more like three riders every two weeks.

But that doesn't mean the store is giving up on the project, store co-owner Daniel Gosselin said, because the summer lull was expected.

"We have riders coming in only when it's really bad weather," said Gosselin. "But people go outside most of the time in the summer time."

Most of the summer riders are also younger children, whose parents may not feel so secure allowing them to play at the city's park.

"Parents will come here in the summer time to drop their kids off for two or three hours while they go shopping or grab dinner," said Gosselin.

The park still remains in trial mode, however, as he said they are still counting the numbers to see if they can justify insurance costs in the tens of thousands of dollars every year that are needed to keep the site open.

So far 40 people have signed up for year-long memberships of $60 - there's also a drop in fees for repeat users.

Gosselin said he's expecting many more skateboarders in the fall, and will know by next spring if the trial is successful. If it is, it could be expanded to include BMX bikes, he said.

"We'll probably add a few things but mostly we'll just add more room so it flows a little bit better," he said.

Robin Gerow, who built the ramps in the park and co-owns it with the store, said that's also what he would like to see.

Overall, though, he was confident the park would succeed.

"Since we built it it's been unbelievably positive for the skateboard community," he said, adding there will be more advertising this fall outside of Prince Albert.

"We're the only (indoor) park in Saskatchewan and we're going to plan on doing advertising come this fall to let the rest of the province know we're here."

tholloway@paherald.sk.ca