For decades, kids in the San Geronimo Valley have been forced to find skate spots in the streets and parking lots of their neighborhoods—but no longer. A valley skatepark will break ground at Lagunitas School on June 5, and organizers hope to complete it before the start of the next school year.
The Valley Skate Crew has spearheaded the project, the result of six years of collaboration between students, teachers, school administrators and the county. The idea was conceived by three students—Ian Andrews, Atticus Bliss-McHone and Dylan Grimmer—as part of their eighth-grade Change Project, but its roots go back to at least 2017, when students fought for skateboarding to be recognized as an elective in the middle school.
The three boys continued to work on the initiative after moving on to high school. They are now in their junior year at Archie Williams, and though they have scaled back their work on the project, they are still staunch supporters and plan to be involved when construction begins this summer.
“Skating was a recurring theme for the Change Projects,” Mr. Bliss-McHone told the Light. “When Covid happened, the thought of a skatepark was more appealing because we had the time to make a compelling case. Lots of meetings and lots of emails, but it’s super exciting that we’re here now.”
The project’s estimated cost of $55,000 will be funded by community donations and county grants. Next month, county staff will decide whether to supply a $10,000 grant, adding to $10,000 it provided last May and $8,000 granted in 2021. The project was not among the priorities named by Supervisor Dennis Rodoni during a meeting with county administrators on Tuesday.
Named in honor of the school district’s former business manager, Jeff Lippstreu, the park will be geared toward beginners looking to familiarize themselves with a board in a skatepark setting. The 80-foot by 30-foot concrete park will feature a ramp on both ends and will be bisected by a pump bump and two boxes that can be used for jumps and grinding. Lagunitas resident Brandon Stieg will donate a 4-foot-high wooden half pipe with an 8-foot radius that will sit on the periphery.
“We’ll start with that, and the idea is that as people get more involved and the group matures, things can be added to it,” said Adam Vurek, a board member of the skate crew.
Since the skatepark will be located on school grounds—parallel to the gym on the lower campus—it will be inaccessible to the public while school is in session. Like the playground, it will only be open when the sun is up.
The park’s design has gone through several iterations, said Katherine Sanford, a board member of the skate crew and the eighth-grade teacher at Lagunitas School. The plans were created prior to the pandemic by Front Rock Inc., a Southern California company that specializes in backyard skate parks, but as the cost of construction materials rose, the club hired a local contractor, Austin Kanfoush, to build the park according to Front Rock’s design.
Mr. Vurek had met Mr. Kanfoush while working on the construction of the Memorial Park Skatepark in San Anselmo. Mr. Kanfoush is a team member of AntiHero, a San Francisco-based skateboarding company established in the mid ‘90s.
“Austin has worked with us on the pricing and been an amazing resource,” Ms. Sanford said. “We had the design from Front Rock and we gave it to him with our budget, which was between $50,000 and $60,000. He tinkered with the design and was able to fit everything we needed in.”
The club has organized fundraising efforts that included merchandise and a GoFundMe that pulled in more than $13,000. Local surf and skate shops have donated significant funds, including $3,000 from Live Water Surf Shop. Ms. Sanford said the owner, Brenna Gubbins, was instrumental in building the park in Fairfax. “She was and has been incredibly generous with money, time and experience. Without her, I am not sure we would have been able to make this happen,” Ms. Sanford said.
In February, musician and skateboarding icon Tommy Guerrero played a fundraiser show at Peri’s in Fairfax. The event, orchestrated by a string of community members, was a hit and helped expedite the project, Mr. Vurek said.
“It’s been an unbelievable community effort,” he said. “It’s been a real long run, but everyone has been great about getting through this and it’s gonna be exciting to have kids there skating.”