Officials and advocates gathered at Gurdon Bill Park on June 26 to celebrate the opening of the city’s first public skate and bike park.
Reminder Publishing photos by Ryan Feyre
SPRINGFIELD — Louis Sacco of 413 BikeLife remembers the days before 2017 when his group of friends would get into trouble for riding their bikes in the streets and in city parks.
“We’d get kicked out of certain places for riding our bikes and skateboards,” Sacco told Reminder Publishing in an interview. “It was just like, ‘well, you don’t want us to ride in the streets, you don’t want us to ride in the parks … where do you want us to go.’”
Thankfully, for Sacco and other riders, that question has finally been answered for them. Following years of advocacy, Springfield’s first and only public bike and skate park is now open to the public.
Riders from all over were already performing tricks across the 12,000-square-foot pit at Gurdon Bill Park as advocates gathered with city and state officials on June 23 to celebrate the completion of the $2 million project.
According to Mayor Domenic Sarno, the new bike and skate park was funded by a $1 million National Park Service Land & Water Conservation Fund grant funneled through the state, as well as a $1 million contribution on the city side.
Additionally, an $80,000 grant from the Community Preservation Act funded the study and initial design of the project following the Springfield Park Commission’s approval of a feasibility study to determine the location of the project.
Sarno said in his remarks that the Gurdon Bill Park bike and skate park is one of many projects throughout the city that prioritizes youth development. He shared that there have been $1 billion worth of newly built and rehabilitated schools, as well as $110 million invested in the parks system.
“I think this will be a huge benefit for the neighborhood, especially our young people,” Sarno said of the new park. “And their parents and grandparents can come out here too.”
The path to get to this point was long and challenging, but nonetheless, rewarding. Although advocacy for a bike and skate park stretches back decades, a formal push for the park gained steam in 2017 thanks to the work of Metro Center Association President Betsy Johnson, RADSpringfield founder Alex Weck and Community Preservation Committee member Yolanda Cancel.
According to previous Reminder Publishing reporting, the three community members spearheaded the request late last decade after citing a need for a recreational space in Springfield where youths could safely enjoy bike and skateboard activities.
Bumps in the road occurred throughout the last several years, including a few misunderstandings and false starts (tinyurl.com/54jmjadr), but the result of these challenges is an all-encompassing recreational space that includes not only the skate park, but also splash pads and swings.
“It starts with a conversation and ends with a solution,” Cancel said. “When the mayor understood that 413 BikeLife wasn’t motorcycles, that it was a non-motorized wheel park … he’s like, ‘Oh, now we can do that.’”
Cancel’s leadership and advocacy throughout the process rang throughout the corridors of Gurdon Bill Park, to the point where state Rep. Carlos Gonzalez (D-Springfield) suggested that the new bike and skate park be named after her.
“It was Yolanda Cancel that made the call, screamed, spoke about it, met about it, yelled about it, galvanized it,” Gonzalez said. “And her team out of the south end at that time really took initiative to embrace this initiative on behalf of our kids.”
According to Department of Capital Asset Constriction Director Pete Garvey, the city worked with GZA contractors for the park design, Mass. West Construction for the building of the park and Pillar Design Studio for other design elements.
The city said the park can be used for wheeled recreation like skateboards, BMX bikes, roller skates, scooters, wheelchairs and other accessibility equipment.
For community activists like Cancel and Sacco, the sight is now a welcome one, especially after years of underutilization and what Gonzalez described as “bad activities” at Gurdon Bill.
“When we first walked this park in 2018 … it was so empty, underutilized and dark,” Cancel said. “This [bike and skate park] is not only a plus for Lower Liberty Heights, but for everybody in the community.”
The impact of the new park is already being felt. Cancel said that people from as far away as Worcester have already visited to enjoy the new amenities. Others from Westfield, meanwhile, have already asked her how Springfield built the park so they can do it in their own community.
In Sacco’s case, the new amenities yield a sea of emotions. The 413 BikeLife member recalls how the group was created to keep youth away from violence following the death of a couple friends.
He said he wishes they were here to see the new park, but he’s nonetheless excited to see how future generations — including his own kids — react to it.
“I’m holding back emotions as best I can … because there’s a lot of kids that should have been able to see this,” Sacco said. “Me, I’m a father now, so now I can bring my kids here. It’s a safe place for them to ride their bikes and run around and just have fun without having to worry about getting kicked out.”
