After a long wait, the Kern River Valley community was able to come together and celebrate a dream realized.
The whirr of polyurethane wheels on concrete scored the Grand Opening event of the George and Darlene Randall Skate Park.
“This just feels like a day of hope, a day of new beginnings and new starts,” said Karen Zuber, Co-founder of the KRV Bridge Connection, a local organization that helped plan the event.
Zuber says there’s a lot to celebrate in the Kern River Valley right now.
“As a resident for 42 years up here, I can't recall an event that brought many different walks of life together.”
Parents camped out and watched their kids skate, there was a water slide to help keep the kids cool, and booths were set up by community organizations.
“Everybody’s here, we had 60 skateboards, 60 scooters, tons of helmets,” said Teresa Contreras, who worked to raise money for the skate park as part of the group Kern River Skate Park.
Skateboards and scooters donated by the community were raffled off
“I moved up here because of the skate park,” said 13-year-old KRV resident Isaac Sporkan.
Sporkan moved from Rosamond and told me he’s wanted a skate park since he moved to the KRV four years ago.
“I like the grand opening a lot,” Sporkan said.
The celebration featured a display by professional BMX rider Conner Smith, who is from Tehachapi.
“I grew up where we had a local skate park, and I wouldn’t be here today without it and it helped me get out of the worst situations ever, and it’s just nice to have,” Smith said.
The event was funded by the state Neighbor-to-Neighbor grant that was awarded to the KRV earlier this year.
“The goal of the Neighbor-to-Neighbor grant is to do what we’re doing here today, bring communities together, get neighbors to get to know each other because we know that we are stronger together,” explained Elissa Lee, Director of Community Engagement for the office that awarded the grant.
That grant money - which totals $500,000 - will be used over the next two years to help throw similar events.
It was a joyous day for a community that’s been waiting for this skate park to open for over twenty years.
“it was her idea from the beginning,” said resident Stephanie Villafranca.
Villafranca is talking about her mother, Pat Burns, who was the first resident to advocate and raise funds for a skate park back starting in the late nineties.
“She just fell in love with the skater kids in the valley, and she was looking around the valley and was thinking there is no place for them to skate.”
Burns raised money, arranged meetings with the county, and worked on grants - but eventually had to step back from her efforts for medical reasons.
“The paperwork was filed away - until these amazing people picked it up.”
Kern River Skate Park is a group formed in 2015 that continued fundraising efforts.
All the money they raised went toward the building of the skate park, which ended up being primarily funded by Kern County.
One of the group members, Teresa Contreras, completed the final honor.
NATS OF RIBBON CUTTING
“It was like oh finally, yes, finally here!” Contreras said.
Pat Burns, one of the park’s first advocates, wasn’t able to see her dream realized.
“I'm personal friends with Pat Burns, this was a dream of hers. She passed away quite a while ago, but it was her vision- she started Youth2000 and those donations have gone on to support this event,” said Zuber.
Villafranca said if her mother was able to see the park finally come to life – she’d be thrilled.
“This would have been absolutely the world to her. This is huge for me, it’s huge for my brother because, this is her heart, the kids in this valley, she loved them so much.”
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