EASTHAMPTON — Construction of the long-anticipated Easthampton all-wheels skatepark in Millside Park is officially underway, with completion set for spring of next year.
Easthampton Skatepark Initiative member Jeff Burke told Reminder Publishing he has been part of the community effort dating back to 2019 and shares pride with fellow initiative and community members who have fought to bring a skatepark back to the city in the same location as the former park.
Last December, the City Council approved a resolution giving the initiative $425,000 from the state’s Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs. Known as the Parklands Acquisition and Renovations for Communities, or PARC grant, the money will fund the final design and construction of an approximately 6,000-square-foot all-wheels park with proposed Americans with Disabilities Act accommodations.
The all-wheels park will cost $750,000 in total to build. Outside of the $425,000 PARC grant, the Community Preservation Act Committee and City Council approved $250,000 in CPA money in fall 2025, and the Easthampton Skatepark Initiative — which has been spearheading the project for several years — is raising the remaining $75,000 through a partnership agreement with local nonprofit Flywheel Community Arts Inc., the fiscal sponsor of the effort.
Together, the mission is to provide free, accessible opportunities for skateboarding, BMX, scooters, rollerblading and other wheeled sports for youth and residents of all ages.
Burke said it was important to make the new park an all-wheels establishment. He shared that in the late 90s and early 2000s skateparks were built just for skateboarders, discouraging BMXers and other wheeled sports from using the space. He said that using that logic only turned away other people who could be allies in getting parks for wheeled sports.
“We want BMXers there. Someone riding a scooter or rollerblades should be using these parks as well. What are you going to do, build a scooter park just for scooters? That’s kind of the amazing thing about skateparks, not only is it such a popular sport now and so many people are doing it, but you’re also fitting so many different user groups into one park,” Burke said. “You’re just solving for so many different user groups when you build a skatepark. It’s just called a skatepark, that’s just what it is, and it’s never going to change, but it’s really for all of these different users.”
Burke said it is surreal to see construction underway and credited subcontractor Baskin Builders of Hampden and skatepark construction company Catamount Skateparks located in Warren, Vermont, for their work on the project. Catamount specializes in skatepark construction, and much of its staff comes from skating backgrounds. Both groups are also working on construction of the new skatepark in Westfield.
Burke said the severity of the winter season will determine when concrete gets in the ground, but he added that the project is still expected to be completed by the June 30, 2027 deadline.
The city renewed its discussions around a new skatepark in 2019, and the new all-wheels park will be the first of its kind in Easthampton in over 20 years. The previous park was in honor of Hampshire County resident David MacDonald, an avid skater who died in a car crash 29 years ago.
“As a former skater, it gives me such pleasure to finally see this project move forward,” said Mayor Salem Derby. “It is not only fulfilling a promise to the skateboard community in Easthampton, it fulfills our promise to the family of David MacDonald.”
MacDonald’s father, Bob, said at a City Council meeting last fall that the park was used by many children until it was taken down and given away without the family’s knowledge. He shared that a park in Chesterfield still honors his son with a plaque in his memory, but the family has still been waiting for a replacement in Easthampton.
“We fundraised nearly $88,000 towards the project thanks to many individual donors as well as significant donations from generous donors including but not limited to Monadnock Community Investments, Greenfield Savings Bank, Grzelak, Grzelak & Associates, P.C., Easthampton Firefighters Charitable Organization, Easthampton Savings Bank, and Owen Zaret,” said Jeff Bagg, a member of the Easthampton Skatepark Initiative. “We’d also like to thank everyone who attended meetings, especially the MacDonald family, who, after their son David passed away in 1997, rallied to create Easthampton’s first and only skatepark from 1997 to 2004, and were very supportive of the effort to bring a new skatepark back to the city.”
Burke said that between the new skatepark, the one being built in Westfield, the newer ones in Springfield and Greenfield, and the Northampton skatepark, the region is becoming a hub for different kinds of parks.
“All baseball fields, all football fields, have the exact same dimensions. If I’m someone who plays soccer or likes to run on a track, there’s no reason for me to go to another town unless I was playing on a high school sports team or whatever to use their facility because it’s identical to the one I have here. With skateparks, everyone is different. The obstacles that are being built in Westfield are going to be completely different from the obstacles being built in Easthampton, which is going to create this new skate park route in Western Massachusetts,” Burke said. “It’s really neat, and we haven’t had that in the past because we just haven’t had the infrastructure, so I think it’s going to be really cool to see how that plays out in the next few years.”
“It’s almost going to be kind of sad when it’s over just because we’re not going to have as many of those [fundraising] events,” Burke continued. “That being said, what’s going to be exciting is that now we’re going to be able to have events at the skatepark, which is going to bring this community together, but it was really special to build this project with all these people, and it worked. We did it. I think everyone should be really excited that they were a part of such a cool community project.”
For more information on the project and future updates, follow the Easthampton Skate Park Initiative on Facebook or Instagram, or visit its website at easthamptonskatepark.com.
