Iowans Have One Last Goodbye for Riverside Skatepark

Iowa skateboarders took one last ride around the Riverside skatepark this past Sunday, as the skatepark has new and exciting plans for the future. The Cedar Rapids skatepark is being relocated as the city needs to build a detention basin, which will help with flood control, according to KCRG. While it may be bittersweet, the good news is the park isn't moving very far.

The competition held on Sunday was put on by Eduskate, which is a skateboard shop in downtown Cedar Rapids. The owner of Eduskate, Nate Sherwood, is a little bummed about the park being torn down as he very well knows skating does an incredible job of bringing people of all different backgrounds together. He told KCRG,

It’s been a lot of fun. It’s gonna be a really sad day when they tear down the park. Going the whole year without the skate park is definitely very grim. You got a whole wide demographic of different humans. I feel like skateboarding is a great catharsis it’s a great outlet, and it’s a great form of unity. It brings people together and puts smiles on people's faces.

While the park being torn down is a bit of a bummer for skaters, they can be happy to know the skatepark is only moving about 50 feet from its current location. While skaters who use the park will have plenty of memories to hold onto from the original park, it's probably time for something new.

Skateboarder, Adam Miller, spoke with KCRG back in June, and he said the skatepark could use some work.

It’s been the same park for a long time. It’s fairly outdated especially compared to other Iowa Cities. Waterloo has a really nice park that’s new and updated. Des Moines just got the biggest park in the country. Cedar Rapids, it’s our turn to have something change.

Some skaters will remember their first ollie, the first time they learned to drop in on a quarter pipe, or some might remember their first boardslide or 50-50 grind at Riverside Park, now plenty of skaters will have a chance to make new memories.

With the chance of having an upgraded and updated skatepark, I think skateboarders in Iowa have a lot to look forward to while being able to remember the good times skating at the old location.

I grew up skating until I was a Junior in high school and some of my favorite memories with my buddies involved heading down to our local skate park. When they put the new skate park in front of our local pool, it was packed almost every day during the summer. Our skatepark was great to have as it probably kept a lot of us out of trouble.

We'd go and film skate videos like the ones we watched the pros make on youtube, we'd make new friends, talk to girls, and try to land a new trick that might take an hour to finally get. I always remember skateboarding for how much fun it was. As a 31-year-old, I joke with my fiance that I'm going to pick up the board again. I just don't know if I'd bounce back as fast when I inevitably fall and hurt myself.

The park will be closing soon and the city hopes to have it up and running by next spring according to KCRG.