Costa Rica has decided to make skateboarding illegal on both roads and sidewalks.
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Maad @m.a.a.d63 is a new skate shop in Mexico City that sells boards, records, clothing, and coffee.
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TR7 @tr7skatepark in Cornwall, England is relocating their indoor skatepark after they lost their lease. To raise money for the new space, owners Martina and Chaz Merryweather recently held an auction of skateboard art. Once they reopen in Roche, TR7 will continue to offer "risk-free lessons" to skaters of all ages.
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Cole Nowicki @colenowicki published a book about the importance and impact of the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater video game.
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Victorian Skate Park Leagues (SPL) @skateparkleagues will hold a skate, scooter, and BMX competition at Apollo Bay Skatepark in Colac Otway Shire, Australia on January 24, 2024.
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The University of Cambridge published a study on how climate change and extreme drought in Southern California sparked the international rise of skateboarding culture in the 1970s.
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Andy Harris and the San Pedro Skatepark Association @channel_street_skatepark handed out 40 complete boards to children from the Toberman Neighborhood Center.
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The Lakota Nation Invitational @lniwebsite76 , which has taken place in Rapid City for 47 years, has recently added skateboarding to their list of events.
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Riverside Skate Park in Penticton, British Columbia will be getting new recreational lights, at a cost of around $350,000, which will be paid for by the Growing Communities Fund.
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The Yard @theyardottawa , an indoor skate and BMX park in Ottawa, is closing due to financial loss and a refusal by the city to get involved.
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The Orange Farm Grind Club is a skate club in Orange Farm, South Africa that is promoting skateboarding as an expressive art form. Currently, they congregate and practice in the streets using temporary, random objects like paint cans to create a type of DIY skatepark.
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Skaters in Coral Springs, Florida plan to relocate their sessions to City Hall in protest after the city unexpectedly shut down their skatepark without plans to reopen.
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Skater Lewis Anderson @twotoedskateboards has set up an indoor skate space at the Murrayside Community Centre in Ipswich, England. Skaters can get lessons one-on-one or in a group setting, or just escape the weather and enjoy a session inside.
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Alex Batty, a 17-year-old who was kidnapped six years ago by his mother and grandfather, was found walking alone and holding a skateboard on a rural French road at night after living a strange nomadic life in Morocco, Spain, and France. He will be returning back to England to live with his grandmother.
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Kocaeli Metropolitan Municipality in Turkey is building a new 1000 square-meter skatepark at the Doğu Kışla Youth Park.
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The Concrete Waves skatepark @concretewavesnewquay in England will be expanded thanks to a £200,000 project organized by the Newquay Town Council, the Boardmasters Foundation @boardmasters , and Cornwall Council.
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Amateur Diné skater and textile artist Naiomi Glasses @naiomiglasses was made Ralph Lauren's first Artist in Residence, which involved the creation of unique product collections.
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St. Joseph, Missouri will be getting a new $400,000 skatepark designed by Spohn Ranch. The money for the park came from the 2019 Capital Improvements Program tax.
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FEMA @fema allocated more than $1 million to repair Skatepark de Cidra in Puerto Rico, which was damaged by Hurricane María. The repairs will include the installment of a retaining wall and "geotextile membranes" to mitigate the possibility of more erosion. Additionally, FEMA is using $850,000 to improve the indoor Rincón Skatepark.
"'Investing in sports facilities such as these has a broad social benefit because, in addition to providing young people with adequate infrastructure to practice and develop in sports, it contributes to family unity, the development of skills and values, and the well-being of communities,' said Federal Disaster Recovery Coordinator José G. Baquero."
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Bob Loftin is an amateur skateboarder and the Municipal Reference Librarian for the City of Plano, Texas. He also works with the Programming & Engagement Department, through which he engages in community outreach activities.
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An expansion of the Alexandria Skatepark in North Glengarry, Ontario, has been completed. $275,000 of the total $375,000 cost for the project came from the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario.
"The course is designed with inclusive accessible diverse obstacles at today’s standards of skateboarding, which will encourage the continued growth of the sport for all ages, genders and abilities. The skate park encourages more people to be active, opens new career opportunities and creates lifelong connections."
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AV King Hamilton @avkinghamilton and his art collective GoodSource Art Collective @goodsource.art are working on creating various kinds of art for its own sake, including skate videos.
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Skaters, city council members, and the parks department are working on a plan to replace the reportedly unrideable Westfield Skatepark in Massachusetts with a new 15,000 sq. ft. concrete skatepark.
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Christopher Giamarino @chris_guymariano , Paul O'Connor @peejhkv , and Indigo Willing @goodwillinghunting wrote a scholarly paper titled "The impacts of hostile designs on skateboarding as a form of active transportation and recreation: comparing perspectives from public university spaces in Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States." The work explores how hostile architecture and urban design on campuses overwhelmingly targets skaters, which negatively impacts opportunities for shared-space physical fitness activity. Based on the health benefits of skating, these academics suggest "skate-friendly interventions" to establish more inclusive spaces that allow for this type of recreational activity.
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At Austin-East High School in Knoxville, Tennessee, students built composite and wood skateboards under the mentorship of the University of Tennessee @utknoxville . The materials were supplied by the Institute for Advanced Composites Manufacturing Innovation and A1 Learning Connections served as a partner.
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Chapel Hill, North Carolina has approved a new concrete redesign for Chapel Hill Skatepark in Homestead Park. The construction will be handled by 5th Pocket Skateparks @5thpocketskateparks and is scheduled to start sometime in 2025.
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A new concrete skatepark was built as part of the nearly $4 million Paradise Recreation Plaza recently constructed just outside of Adelaide in South Australia. An official grand opening will take place on Jan 28th, which will feature demos, food vendors, music, and more.
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The Wellington City Council in New Zealand has secured $5.64 million for a new skatepark that will be built by CONVIC in Kilbirnie. Max Olijnyk @maxolijnyk , President of the Wellington Skateboarding Association, will work with CONVIC on the design.
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SFM Skatepark will be constructed in Rome, New York in honor of Stone Mercurio, who died as a result of self-inflicted wounds in 2023. The concrete park will be 30,000 sq. ft. in size and "represents Stone's legacy; one which calls us to lead a life of heightened awareness for all beings." The park is designed and will cost $1.5 million - funding is still underway.
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Queer Skate Brighton @queerskatebtn is a collective of skaters in England that promotes inclusivity for those "who wouldn't normally fit into the mould of the 'generic skateboarding standards.'"