The City of Fall River held a ceremony to celebrate the official reopening of the new skateboard park at Lafayette Park. The Mayor opened the event, noting that the park, funded in part by ARPA funds, has been extremely popular with local youth since the fences came down. He thanked State Representative Carol Fiola for her partnership on the project and for securing additional funding for future park improvements. State Representative Carol Fiola spoke about the importance of providing diverse recreational opportunities for the city's youth, from pickleball to skateboarding. She announced that she had secured a $150,000 state earmark to further improve Lafayette Park, specifically by upgrading another court area separate from the skate park. She praised the community advocates who were instrumental in making the new park a reality. Community advocates and designers Courtney Ross and Devon Molina shared the history of the project. Ross began advocating for a new park in 2021 due to the old facility's state of disrepair, while Molina started a petition in 2024, and they eventually teamed up. They described the new park as a custom-designed, poured-concrete facility built by Catamount Skate Parks, suitable for all skill levels and for various users including skateboarders, roller skaters, and bikers. They also announced a larger community celebration event scheduled for Saturday, July 25th, from 1-6 p.m., which will feature live music, food trucks, and a skateboarding contest.
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Council
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Hello. And it's really a privilege to be out here at Lafayette Park today to officially open our um skateboard park, but at the same time, this has been in use for a while. As soon as we took the fences down, the kids poured in. Um and it's great to see it getting used. Um this is something that's been solely needed for a long time. We used some ARPA funds on this. We have more work to
0:21do uh at Lafayette Park, and I'm going to let uh our state representative talk about that in one second, but we're trying to spruce up all the parks in Fall River. Um, and I was just talking to Dan Medeiros from the Herald News about going by pickle ball this morning, seeing the crowd down there, and then seeing the crowd up here for this skateboard park. It's very, very important that we give kids the
0:40opportunity to get out, have some fun, and enjoy what the city of Fall River has to offer. Uh, and I'm glad they're here today. We have an event planned in July. Uh, we'll probably let Courtney talk about that a little bit. And, uh, that'll be our next official kickoff here. Hopefully we have more work done by then. But at the same time, none of this is possible without funding. And uh
1:01ARPA took us so far. But um the state representative for this district, Carol Fiola, has also made a commitment to do some upgrades here at um Lafayette Park.
1:11She's been a partner on this from the start, and I'm glad she joined us here today, and she might have a few words to say.
1:17Thank you, mayor. Wow, what a great day.
1:19I I come here uh the mayor of course sent us an invite about the launching of this great skate park and I love it because this is part of my district of course but you know what this administration has done and what this community does is respond to the different the different interests this is what about not everybody's a skateboarder but not everybody's a pickle ball player not everybody's a
1:39basketball player and so what this community has tried to do is respond to the different needs and interests so that our young people have something to do some a place to be in the city having fun being constructive and doing great things. So, in collaboration with the mayor and of course thanks to Mike Dion who helps administer all this um this year, you know, I was able to get something for for this coming year to
2:05help improve Lafayette Park. People said, "Hey, we like the skateboard park.
2:09We don't want this court here. We want to improve that court over there so that there's two separate areas." So, I was able to get a $150,000 earmark to help Lafayette Park. And so, um, so I'm really happy about that. Um, you know, but but it takes a village. It takes advocates like you, uh, Courtney and you. I just met you and your gorgeous daughter, Scarlet. Uh, but, uh, you are the designer, I understand, of this
2:34park. So, you know, it takes a village.
2:37We need you all to be involved. Don't think your voice does not matter because it does. Stay involved. stay interested in what's happening in your community and I'm so proud to be a part of it.
2:47Thank you. Thank you.
2:49Thanks, Carol. Um, again, without Mike Dion and the CDA, we work together all the time, but in this project, we added on a couple of new partners. One of them is a former student of mine. The other one I just met, but we're going to let them come up now and uh say a few words about what went into this and how they thought about it and what they thought would be
3:10positive for the city of Fall River. So, I'll let Courtney come in and she can introduce the next one.
3:17Hello, I'm Courtney Ross. I started back in 2021 um almost harassing the mayor uh letting him know that the park desperately needed to be redone. Uh the mini ramp was falling apart. Part of it had been removed. There was deep cracks in the ground and it made it a safety hazard. Our other two parks were also in disrepair. So, I just thought that this one would be the best one to do since
3:43it's more centrally located. Uh, originally the plan was to do all three parks and just kind of renovate them, but I had pushed to see if we could just do a brand new park and up the ARPA funds. And I'm just really happy that, you know, the mayor and city council was able to make that happen with us.
4:01Thank you.
4:09Hi. Uh, I'm Devon Molina. Um, this park we kind of just um I I hopped on like 2024. I made this petition and I wasn't really aware of what Courtney was doing, but we teamed up. We made a great team, the two of us. Uh, three of us, four of us really. You know what I mean? Um, we are missing a couple people. Mike's here, though. He just got here. Um,
4:32yeah. I don't know. I guess I'd like to thank the city. I'd like to thank the mayor. We're super appreciative of this this park. Um, I'd like to thank everybody. Yeah. Everybody that helped design it. Catamount Skate Parks that built it. Um, you know, all the friends that come here and skate every day. Um, the friends that don't come here and skate every day, too. The friends that we lost along
4:53the way. You know, shout out to Ronda ODM. And, um, and, uh, yeah, I'm hyped on the skate park.
5:02Devin, may I ask you what goes into making something like this? It's got to be measured. It's got to be smooth. It's got to be as safe as possible. Can you explain that to me, your design vision?
5:11Um, so most of it was just like stuff that I had already skated before. A lot of it is like um, you know, different street spots that we go to and and uh, different skateparks that I've seen, different things that like I incorporate from other places and um, that we all did. And um, you know, I I didn't do so much about like the measurement. I kind of just like I've skated different ramps
5:31that are like different sizes and I thought that you know we discussed that certain sizes would be good for certain stuff.
5:40Do you think it's kind of user friendly whether beginning young people more experienced and you have street bikes as well?
5:47Yeah, I think it's very like well-rounded. I think that a lot of the ramps are super mellow like they're good to learn on. Um, we have a lot of different sizes, too. A lot of different um heights of like different boxes and and it's not just for skateboarders either, too. You know what I mean?
6:02Roller skaters where half of this park was designed by roller skaters and a lot of the obstacles that are here to skate are designed for roller skaters, you know what I mean? For both of us alike.
6:11So, um you know, I I think that Yeah, it's it's good for beginners.
6:17Yeah. Go ahead, Courtney. Sorry.
6:18Tell us about the design. Um you've been working on it. you just said like 6 years. It must be absolutely heartwarming to finally see this come to fruition and have over 50 60 people here.
6:30Yeah, it is. Um, so one saying that we had at Dery is successful people do the things that unsuccessful people refuse to do. And I definitely feel like we've been successful here with this design.
6:43Uh, just getting it done. Uh, like Devon was saying and everyone else was saying, it's not just for skateboarders. It was partially designed by me as well, which I'm a roller skater as well. Um, there's some features here that are for bikers, for inlininers, so it's it's well-rounded. Um, there's some higher features like we have like I think it's like about a six foot spine. Um, so we
7:06have things that are more exciting for people that like the bigger things, but then we also have uh ledges that are only like a foot high, not even. So it makes it more approachable for a beginner.
7:18You're a young person. We hear so much about young people being just apathetic about their city, their community, not being involved. Look at you guys. A dad.
7:27He's got his daughter here, right?
7:29Devin, you're here. You're a young person. Can you kind of tell me about the example of being a young person that cares, that's involved, that that votes?
7:39Both of you.
7:40Yeah. Um I I'm super proud of my city. I like to call myself a river rat, but like in a affectionate way. You know, I am a diehard river rat. I love my city.
7:51I love everything about it. Um, and I just saw that it was in need. And I also, we also all go out of our way, like an hour away to skate, sometimes even hours. Like I go to Connecticut a lot to skate because our parks just like weren't worth it. Um, another thing is that like a lot of people would like in those communities ask us like, "Oh, we would love to visit your park." And then
8:14we would have to tell them like, "Oh, our park's not really worth visiting, you know?" So, it's really nice that we have something that we can have people come to us now and we don't have to drive so far. And so, I thought that that would be great to just have closer to us to benefit everyone.
8:30Right. And like and to piggyback on to what she was saying, um the park that we had here originally was not anything like the park that we have here now. And like I grew up skating in this park. A lot of us did. And um like I've been here for I've been coming here probably since like 2013, 2014. And um it's just like now we have this is like kind of
8:50always my outlet, you know what I mean?
8:52And I think that it's like that for a lot of people. So I think like you know that's why I care so much and like why you know I might be like a young person here. I I just really care about like skateboarding in this city. We used to have a really really big community here of people who would skate and like you couldn't show up to this park without
9:07like 14 heads, you know what I mean?
9:08Being here just hanging out, but um it died out. We got this beautiful park and it's been booming every day.
9:16It's been it's been very busy. So, I'm hyped.
9:18It It's very special because it is customdesigned and poured. Um, it's not a prefab, which is what we had prior, which is just pre-fabricated places that are put in to the ground. Um, and you'll kind of see them all over. It's like you've been to one prefab, you've kind of been to all of them. Um, so this one is really special because it's not pre-fabricated. It is specially designed, custom poured. Um, and there's
9:42features that you don't see at other parks in the area.
9:45Oh, I know. You tell us about the skating community. Do people have preconceived notions when they see you?
9:51about what like you mean like you mean like yeah definitely um how you want to spell that right I think young daughter who's I don't know about six or seven up to people who are older tell me about that right I think nowadays people have gotten a lot more like accepting of skateboarding like I don't even think that you know a couple years ago maybe five years ago I don't think the city
10:14would have heard us about anything that we were trying to tell them about the skatepark like even now they don't like you know I mean I mean I'm glad that we got it you know what I mean but they They were like, like Mike Deion himself was like, "Is this even going to get used?" Like, you know what I mean? But like, we're not the first generation to try, right? We know other skaters that have
10:30tried in the past and the city wasn't as receptive.
10:34I think nowadays it's a little bit better. Like, you know what I mean? I don't think that people judge as hard, you know what I mean? But it's um, you know, whatever that it's just what we love to do. So, I think that like skateboarding or roller skating or anything that like is kind of, you know, like a little bit of like an alternative kind of sport, I think that like it's
10:53more of a lifestyle than something that it's like that sounds a little cheesy, but like it's but like it's it's more of like like it's your whole self rather than just like a little piece of you.
11:02Like it's like it's everything. Whether it comes down to like like even her, I wouldn't I wouldn't have even had her if I didn't have skateboarding. I met her mom through one of my skateboarding friends, you know what I mean? So it's like it like it's my whole life, you know, like everything it it's our whole life, you know? I don't think we really care.
11:17I'd like to piggy back off of that and say is that like we skaters do sometimes get like a bad rap and you know, you think of like these delinquents that are, you know, making like a rowdy mess in the park. But anyone that's actually like been to a skate park has seen that like we take care of our spaces. A lot of these skaters will pick up trash that they see
11:38that's laying around and put it in the trash can. Um, a lot of us if we see people that are like spray painting, we'll be like, "Hey, you can't do that here." Um, and so there are a lot of skaters that do police the area themselves and, you know, take care of that their community and their space.
11:55I think that a lot of the bad rap that skateboarders get, like a lot of like the the spray paint on the park or like the litter and the trash everywhere, all those people aren't the people that like actually care. You know what I mean?
12:04that the people that actually care about this park are the ones that are here.
12:07Like, you know, we bring trash bags and and whatever like once a week just to come pick up what like our friends might have left behind on accident. You know what I mean? So, it's it's that Yeah. Where it always has been. This park is always has been since I was a kid.
12:22Yeah.
12:25Yes. Very important.
12:28Anything else we should know?
12:30I don't think so.
12:32Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So, um July 25th, we have it it'll be a Saturday. We have a um it'll be an event here kind of similar to like what's going on today, but it's going to there'll be live music. Um there'll be food trucks, vendors. Um there'll be there'll be a whole bunch of stuff going on.
12:49Skateboarding contest. Uh we're going to have one of those today, too. But, um a whole bunch of stuff. We're going to do a whole bunch of stuff. So, July 25th, come out. Bring your kids. Bring bring your your girlfriend, your best friend.
13:01Bring them all. The hours are 1 to 6. 1 to 6 p.m.
13:05So that's awesome.
13:06Right. Right. Definitely I'm hyped on that. Nice job everybody.