Ollies and kick-flips abound as Artist Walk Skatepark opens

Keniel Jaenz took a brief break from skateboarding at the Artist Walk Skatepark in Riverside on Thursday morning to talk about how much he loved this three-block-long conglomeration of ramps, rails and jumps under the Fuller Warren Bridge.

Just minutes before, the mayor and city officials had cut the ribbon on the skatepark, part of an $8.8 million Artist Walk park that starts across from the Riverside Arts Market and extends in the bridge’s shade all the way to Park Street, and ultimately College Street.

It’s not perfect, he admited — but it is cool.

“I feel like the flow is not really there, but all together, I really enjoy this park — it is really nice,” Jaenz said as dozens of other skateboarders zipped nearby. “I feel like we need a park like this in Jacksonville.”

As his dog Rocco eagerly watched the skaters pass by, skateboarder Brandon Gomez said he loved that the “no trespassing” signs are now gone and what he calls an “amazing” skatepark is open. He was the foreman for it’s construction, and Rocco’s pawprints are imprinted in concrete near one of the ramps, he hinted.

“The guys who designed it also skateboard, our whole crew; everybody in the whole company is involved in skateboarding somehow or another,” Gomez said. “I am really, really happy seeing people skating in it, and (to) see it come to life. I think, at the beginning, when you see it on paper, you don’t grasp the size and just the fun aspects of a lot of the obstacles, so seeing it come to life and seeing all the kids really enjoying it, and the community enjoying it, is pretty awesome,. And I get to skate it too.”

Groundbreaking for the skate park took place a year ago on a former dirt lot, ultimately to be rebuilt into a linear park space with landscaped multiuse trails and artificial turf-clad hills. The park also includes a paved plaza with murals, local art work and space where artists can show off their work still to come.

The Fuller Warren Bridge bike/pedestrian ramp between San Marco and Riverside ends next to the skatepark, which has winding sidewalks with lighting, plus benches next to multiple ramps, rails and other skateboard necessities arranged around the concrete bridge pillars.

The new park, next to Riverside Park, was funded by the city and the Florida Department of Transportation. The City Council voted a few weeks ago on a no-cost lease for the 6-acre site, because it’s under a bridge operated by the Florida Department of Transportation.

With a yell of “How cool is this!,” Mayor Donna Deegan officially opened the skatepark just after 8 a.m. Thursday, the first phase of a park that will soon include space for artists and crafters just across from the long-running Riverside Arts Market space on Riverside Avenue. It is the first city project started and completed under her first year as mayor, the first skatepark on the city’s west side and one that brings families together for healthy exercise and art, she said.

“You don’t get to build a park every day under an interstate, so we appreciate everybody’s patience as we work through this process,” Deegan said. “The vision for this skate park was not just about creating a space for skating but about blending art and recreation is a way that reflect the vibrant spirit of our community.”

Speaking before the ribbon cutting, City Councilperson Jimmy Peluso said the new park connects Downtown, LaVilla and the Brooklyn communities to Riverside in his district. And it is all under a huge interstate bridge, framed by its on- and off-ramps to Park Street.

“Only in Riverside could we take this hulking mass of metal and concrete and turn it into something beautiful and great,” Peluso said. “And this is only one piece of a two-piece park that is going to be incredible with an artists walk being built up next year as well.”

The park will also be part of the Emerald Trail in Jacksonville , portions of which opened in the LaVilla community in recent weeks.

Deegan joked that skaters that had been ignoring “no trespassing” signs on fences surrounding the park in the weeks before it opened. But on Thursday, many joined the mayor, Peluso and park officials for the ribbon cutting before going back to play.

Next on the construction list are a place for locally made sculptures and art, plus a landscaped event space to expand the Riverside Arts Market with more artist and crafters spaces across Riverside Avenue. That area is set to open next summer, with more space on Park Street to open next spring, city recreation department officials said. Design on extending the Art Walk between Park and College streets is set to begin in a year or so.

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