EDINBURG — Skaters, rollerbladers and bikers of all ages gathered around the new skate park in Edinburg on Wednesday excited to be the first people to glide across the new ramps.
They rode across the park testing out every aspect of it as they skated from the square rails to the quarter pipes to the bowl — each one learning from another as they watched fellow skaters attempt various tricks.
The city of Edinburg held a ribbon cutting ceremony Wednesday morning for its newest community park, Skatepark at South Park, a 12,000-square-mile Edinburg Parks and Recreations partnered with California-based Spohn Ranch Skateparks.
Tom Reyna, assistant city manager of Edinburg, said more’s coming for the park.
“We are also going to be putting in a new rainbow rail,” Reyna said, adding the skatepark is “just phase one of this park.”
“Phase two of the park will consist of a new restroom facility and water stations,” he added. “We also have a new municipal bath house and coming soon we are going to be unveiling our new Capable Kids splash pads.”
Mikey Whitehouse, a professional skater from Edinbrug who assisted in the park’s design, provided officials with ideas and suggestions of what skaters would like to see.
Whitehouse has been a skateboarder for about 22 years and is happy to see such a facility so close to home.
“Everything is pretty sick,” Whitehouse said. “It’s all cement so it’s our first cement park. It’s got a bowl. I usually skate rails and stairs and stuff like that, so it will be fun to actually learn how to skate more of that. That big quarter pipe is a little intimidating. It’s pretty big so hopefully, when the time comes I’ll be able to air off it.”
Micaela Dominguez, a beginner skater attended the event after she saw the announcement on Instagram. She has always had an interest in skating but didn’t officially pick up the sport until her senior year of high school.
“I kind of know the basics but I’m ready to learn a lot of new things at this skate park,” she said. “The skate park has a bowl and none of the other skate parks around here have that, so I’m excited to learn different kinds of tricks…”
Dominguez was excited to try out the new park and learn from other skaters such as the two professional skaters, Whitehouse and Nick Holt, that attended the event on Wednesday.
According to the city of Edinburg, the new park was created for all skill levels and all forms of street sports.
Crystal Hernandez, 29, has been a roller derby competitor for about 10 years. Hernandez, a native of McAllen, was excited to have a new skate park in Edinburg that included aspects such as the bowl, which until then had only been available in a Brownsville park.
Films such as “Whip It” inspired her to participate in sports such as roller derby; however, she always found it difficult to practice at a skatepark due to the bigger parks being in Brownsville.
“It’s really exciting cause I go to school at UTRGV and this is really close to the campus so, the potential of what I can do is now starting to be a possibility because of this park,” Hernandez said.
For Frank Lara, 40, seeing the skatepark open has been a dream come true.
“You would see stuff like this on TV only … we would see stuff like this in California and Houston but it never came down here,” Lara said at the event, noting that Edinburg is his hometown and takes a measure of pride in knowing that the skatepark is now a reality.
He recalled only being able to skate back and forth on his neighborhood sidewalk as a child.
“I’m glad as a parent now, this opens opportunities for kids to get out of the Valley, make a career … not just football, baseball, golf,” he said. “It’s more than just the park that you see here; there are futures here with kids that are going to grow up to be pros.”
