JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Jacksonville’s newest skate park in Riverside is officially open for skaters, cyclists and everyone in between.
The Artist Walk Skate Park, is the first major skate park on the west side of the St. Johns River, according to Mayor Donna Deegan.
Skateboarders and roller-skaters joined city leaders in front of the skate-able letters "JAX" for a ribbon cutting Thursday morning.
“Let’s get skating!” Deegan said.
Skaters described the park as "amazing," and said they enjoy how large it is and that the Fuller Warren Bridge protects them from the sun and the rain.
“The park is amazing," Kori Campbell, a Jacksonville skateboarder, said. "Everyone’s rippin', everyone’s killing it."
“It’s a great addition to the city," another skater, Mark Johnson, said. "It holds a lot of opportunities for a lot of people out here and a lot of kids.”
City leaders are excited for the new park to connect with the Emerald Trail. City Councilmember Jimmy Peluso said the space in front of the park that's still under construction will be used for arts programming, much like an extension of the Riverside Arts Market.
Co-owners of the Block Skate Supply Pete McMahon and James Smith expect people to travel to Jacksonville specifically for the park.
"People from all over are already contacting us about when the park’s gonna be open so they can come skate it,” McMahon said.
“Parks like this bring in travelers, they bring in families," Smith said. "When we traveled when our kids were little, all of our trips were basically planned around what cities have plazas, what cities have cool parks that we could go to. And we went and spent money.”
The park is also bringing local families together. First Coast News met father-daughter duo Allen Tracy and Emily Suto, who were sharing their love of the sport.
“Skateboarding has been a part of my life ever since I was 13 years old," Tracy said.
“If I would ask probably anybody in this park to help me learn how to do it, they probably would," Suto said about learning to drop in. "That’s what I mean by community.”
As Smith puts it, the new skatepark puts Jacksonville on the map as a place where people from all walks of life can skate through it together.
“It’s great for the skaters obviously, because it’s out here," Smith said. "But the bike path, incorporating the Emerald Trail, all of those things are powerful movements for Jacksonville to say all these communities can come together. I think it speaks of unity and I think that’s powerful.”
First Coast News asked Peluso about the delay in opening the park. He pointed to having to go back and forth with agreements between the Jacksonville city council and the Florida Department of Transportation as being time-consuming.