Indiana’s largest concrete skatepark near completion in downtown Evansville
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By mid-December, the largest concrete skatepark in Indiana is expected to open to the public in downtown Evansville. The 26,000-square-foot attraction called Sunset Skatepark cost $1.7 million, including more than $800,000 in private funds.
Steve Schaefer, Evansville’s deputy mayor and interim parks director, told Inside INdiana Business the city wanted to ensure a public-private partnership for the project that’s been a long time coming for the skating community.
“To make sure that there’s private investment, that’s always a challenge. But in this case, there are a lot of energetic people that wanted to see the project done,” he said.
Terre Haute-based Garmong Construction is the general contractor for Sunset Skatepark, with Bloomington-based Hunger Skateparks providing design and concrete work. The official opening is set for Dec. 16.
Hunger Skateparks co-owner and director Christy Weezer told Inside INdiana Business the skating community recommended the company.
“Since we’re an Indiana-based skatepark design and build company, the skateboarders in Evansville pushed the city to ask us to help. We started working with the parks department a few years ago to conceptualize a design,” she said.
Weezer said public feedback heavily influenced the end result.
“The city was great in listening and allowing the design to evolve to respond to different user groups. That’s how we’ve landed on the design that’s being built right now, which makes it a really unique design and catered specifically to Evansville,” she said.
The city’s current outdoor skatepark in the Lamasco neighborhood is more than 20 years old and in bad shape. Schaefer said the new recreation area will meet the needs of an underserved group of residents.
“The skatepark reaches a demographic of the community that we don’t service, that don’t have as many things to do,” he said.
The new Sunset Skatepark is located on the riverfront between Mickey’s Kingdom and the Evansville Water and Sewer Utility Sunrise Pump Station.
‘Begging for a new skatepark’
Lamasco Skatepark, a prefabricated setup with a lifespan of about ten years, was constructed on Evansville’s west side in 2001. Schaefer said an upgrade that’s built to last is long overdue.
“The local skate community was begging for a new skatepark because Lamasco has been the only one outdoors in Evansville, and it’s deteriorated over time,” he said.
Heather Vaught, a skatepark advocate who owns several businesses downtown, told Inside INdiana Business that without an area in decent condition, the skating community has nowhere to congregate.
“I heard from a lot of the skateboarders who’d be skating in a parking lot or something like that and get chased off the property. And they’re like, ‘Well, where are we supposed to go?’” she said.
According to Schaefer, all the skaters wanted was a safe place to enjoy their favorite pastime.
“These kids and young adults, they just want somewhere where they can do this. Hearing that passion and going through the process was rewarding. And now seeing the final product, it’s pretty eye-opening. When you see it on the riverfront, it’s pretty cool,” he said.
“Now we have a place to send them that’s safe and accessible and right off of our greenway that’ll also not be damaging property,” added Vaught.
Jeremy Kunz, Garmong Construction’s vice president of strategic initiatives and board president of the Evansville Trails Coalition, said a skatepark is a desired attraction for a community’s quality of life.
“In studies we’ve done at the Evansville Trails Coalition and/or other studies that other entities within the community have done, this is a quality of place, quality of life amenity that should be taken seriously,” he said.
Weezer said the demand for skateparks is high across the country. If one community has a skatepark, then surrounding communities want them, too.
“Skateboarding is a popular sport, and I don’t see it dying anytime soon. It just keeps growing and growing,” said Weezer.
“There are more than 20 concrete skateparks throughout Indiana. We’re the third biggest city, and we don’t have one. So it’s about time for us,” Vaught added.
Site selection and construction challenges
As plans for a new skatepark began to unfold, the new facility’s location in Evansville was up for debate.
“There wasn’t a site allocated to the project because the old Lamasco site wasn’t going to work again for a skatepark of the new size. So the preliminary designs were pretty rough,” said Weezer.
Schaefer said the first rendition of the Roberts Park master plan included a spot for the new skatepark.
“But as conversations went on, the idea of putting it on the riverfront came up,” he said. “Heather Vaught and the local skate community thought Sunset Skatepark was a great concept, they convinced our administration and we decided to take it from Roberts and put it down on the riverfront.”
Vaught, who is not a skateboarder, viewed her role in the project as a liaison between the skating community and city officials.
“I saw the effort of people trying to do stuff, but it was not really going in the direction that they wanted it to go,” she said. “There are a lot of very passionate people who haven’t worked a lot with city government, and I knew enough about the skate community and enough about the city to hopefully put some pieces together.”
As construction got underway following a groundbreaking ceremony in December 2022, challenges arose during phases of the skatepark project.
“Getting good dry weather to work in, keeping cold spouts away to pour concrete, making sure temperatures are above the appropriate curing temperatures,” said Kunz.
Weezer said delays involving rerouting stormwater lines and other issues were unfortunately unavoidable.
“The length of time from design to build has caused a little frustration within the skateboarder community, but these civic projects tend to take longer,” she said.
Schaefer said the project also moved slower than expected because Hunger Skateparks—which builds skateparks across the country and in Europe—is in high demand.
“They’re designing these skateparks all over the world,” he said. “There’s only a handful of skatepark design companies in the country, and they’re one that does a lot of good work.”
What the skatepark has to offer
Sunset Skatepark’s features include a hybrid roller rink, long adaptive ledges, a flow bowl and a pool bowl. Weezer said the size of the Evansville project is unique.
“A lot of times when we’re dealing with cities of Evansville’s size and smaller, the size of the skatepark is smaller. But when we were designing, it began to grow,” she said.
As the design changed, Schaefer said he ensured a cycle track was part of the final version.
“It’s a concrete track, the roller derby could use it. But also people who are learning how to ride a bike. So if you’re not a skater, you could come down and learn how to ride a bike on this cycle track,” he said.
The skatepark provides another method for Evansville residents to participate in healthy activities, according to Kunz.
“It’s great to have other forms of recreation in our community to get people outdoors active and help bolster the health and wellness of our community,” he said.
Vaught, who’s also a board member of the Downtown Evansville Economic Improvement District, said the skatepark’s location will help provide recreation for underserved children.
“Where we’re putting it in downtown is between the two lowest income census tracts in the city. So our kids who need free, accessible activities will be able to walk, bike, skate there and be able to utilize that park,” she said.
Stakeholders agree the beauty of Sunset Skatepark is that it’s not only functional but also aesthetically pleasing.
“We drew upon the sunset theme because it’s in Sunset Park, and there’s the most gorgeous sunsets on the levee there,” said Weezer.
‘We want it to be used by all types of people’
Once Evansville’s new skatepark opens, Vaught said skaters will finally have a place to call home.
“I have one friend who has five kids, and all of his kids skateboard, and they go out of town every weekend to skateboard. They’re going to be able to stay here with their kids, and their friends will be able to come here and utilize an amazing park,” she said. “I hope it becomes a good community gathering space for the youth in the city.”
However, Vaught and Weezer concede that Sunset Skatepark isn’t just for skateboarders and the younger population.
“It’s multi-generational and multi-modes as well. Bikes, scooters, roller skates and skateboards. That’s what we want. We want it to be used by all types of people,” said Weezer.
“There are skateboarders who are six-year-old girls and 50-year-old men. It’s literally for everyone,” added Vaught. “It’s something you can do by yourself or you can do with a group of people. You don’t have to buy a ton of expensive equipment to do it. It’s got a really low point of entry. It’s a great community-building tool.”
Schaefer said concerns about safety and vandalism at Sunset Skatepark are being addressed upfront.
“We added a lot of extra lighting. There are a few cameras at the utility pump station,” he said. “We are going to bring the local skate community in to see the specialty designs and concrete and address graffiti immediately. If you have the buy-in from the skaters about some of the artwork, then there’s a sense of ownership. It’s all about including them from the beginning to the end.”
Schaefer added that Hunger Skateparks designed the riverfront skatepark with features that would enable opportunities to host events. Alexis Berggren, executive director of Explore Evansville, told Inside INdiana Business she expects increased skate tourism within the first few years.
“Hunger Skateparks has a large following of athletes that embark on Hunger Skatepark tours. Once our project is completed, they’ll be releasing a new Indiana tour, and Evansville will feature as a main attraction,” she said.
Berggren said the organization is also reaching out to the area skate shops and community leaders in the roller derby, skateboarding and biking community to assess interest and gather resources for coordinated activities.
“Everyone realizes there’s never enough things for people to do within the community, let alone for younger people,” said Vaught. “I’m very excited to see people utilize it and to see all the people who have helped volunteer their time, words and energy towards this project be able to see all of their ideas come to fruition.”