Gypsum new skate park grand opening celebration set for next week
Ben Roof/For the Vail Daily
Skateboarders in Gypsum will be able to enjoy their new park starting Tuesday, Sept. 15, in a grand opening celebration scheduled for 3 p.m.
DJ Krusher Jones will be mixing and a raffle giveaway is planned for the grand opening, which will begin with a ribbon cutting and speeches from those who helped make the park possible.
The park was completed ahead of schedule this summer by Grindline Skateparks, and the project also came in under budget due to the work of students who were able to garner cash donations and in-kind contributions during the park’s construction.
A project of Red Canyon High School, the skate park was conceived by students who received credit in math, physics, physical education and English for the work involved in making it a reality. The project received national news coverage on PBS in 2022.
After the project was approved and budgeted, the students continued to work to drive the cost down, writing several grant applications. A group of some of those students, in August, told the Gypsum Town Council that the Sept. 15 event will also include the presentation of a check from their group Sk8 Gypsum to the town for more than $80,000 as a result of their fundraising efforts.
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“Giving a check back to the town, that shows some real merit, and some real work on the part of the students,” said Mayor Pro Tem Tom Edwards. “I think that’s the kind of thing we would like to see in our community — us working with you, but you working with us, too.”
The new park is located at the south end of the town’s Municipal Campus on Cooley Mesa Road, and is part of a more than $10 million package of capital improvements the town put forth in its 2023 budget. Other projects include bike path repairs along Cooley Mesa Road, the town’s roundabout project at Schoolside and Highway 6, and the construction of a dog park in Buckhorn Valley, which is expected to open in October.
