Akron Skate Park will host its second Akron Skate Park Jam July 27 in an effort to bring together the local skateboarding and BMX community and celebrate the park.
Tyler Arney, a 24-year-old BMX biker, planned the event with 30-year-old skateboarder, Miranda Best.
Arney said the Akron Skate Park is well-known for being a melting pot of BMX riders and skateboarders, making it different from other parks in the surrounding area. For the jam, Arney said he’s invited skaters and bikers from other parks like Alliance Skate Park, Ninth Street Skate Park and New Philadelphia Skate Park.
Best, who has been skateboarding for 10 years and now enjoys riding at the Akron Skate Park with her 5-year-old son, said she has been working to gather sponsors who have donated prizes, such as skateboards, bikes or other gear.
“Everybody gets along and helps each other and wants the best for one another,” Best said. “It's an amazing community to have my child in. I genuinely feel like my son has a million uncles — a million grown-ups who are looking out for his best interests at all times.”
The event will begin at noon with competitions for kids before adults ride, Arney said. The events will alternate between BMX rides and skateboarders.
Jennifer London, founder of the Curtis J. Rhoden Memorial Foundation , has been raising money to support the skate park community since her son, Rhoden — an active member in the Akron Skate Park community — died in a motorcycle accident Aug. 1, 2021.
At the jam, the foundation will set up as a vendor to fundraise and give out prizes throughout the day. London said she always brings fruit and water since she knows it gets hot at the park, and she wants the riders to eat something other than junk food.
“If he didn't have a skate park and the skateboards and the bikes,” London said, speaking about Rhoden. “I don't know what would happen to him. People laugh, but when I say that skate park literally helped me raise my son, I mean that.”
London said the foundation works to “keep kids on wheels” by giving out bikes and other gear to community members who can’t afford them on their own. She said she wants to help other mothers give their kids the opportunities to ride like Rhoden had.
Arney said when Rhoden died, the community came together to keep his memory alive.
“We lost a really good friend of ours,” Arney said. “We lost the glue that held Akron Skate Park together.”
In 2022, the Akron Skate Park community suffered another tragedy when 19-year-old Zion Neal was shot and killed at the park.
Best said the shooting scared many of the local riders and devastated people who knew the park as a safe place for children and families.
“It's not a place for violence like that,” Best said. “We all go there to clear our minds and to have fun, and it was really scary. We were all thrown for a loop because that's just not what happens there.”
Arney said he has been working with the city's Department of Public Services to identify a potential new location for the park, especially amid rumors the park was going to be torn down.
But a city spokesperson said relocation is not imminent.
“There aren’t currently plans to demolish or move the skate park. Should there be a need to relocate either the Skate Park or BMX in the future, the city is committed to working with those stakeholders as part of that process,” Stephanie Marsh, director of communications for the city of Akron, wrote in an email.
Best said in preparation for the jam, the event organizers have been working to clean up the park by covering any obscenities written and making the site more family-friendly.
“We really want to prove to the city that it isn't the skateboarders and the BMX bike riders that are causing these issues,” Best said. “Because we are all a big family. We're a huge community, and we're all supportive of each other. Everybody comes together for everybody”
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Boards and BMX bikes will soar Saturday at Akron Skate Park Jam
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