“ What’s happening with the skatepark?” If we’ve heard it once, we’ve heard it 1000 times. 2024 is winding down, so it’s a perfect time for an update!
The last quarter of 2023 included community conversations for new design ideas with New Line Skateparks. Friends of Ruston Skatepark and the City of Ruston worked with the company to provide an updated design for the park based on input from our community. In early 2024, we received the new design. It is amazing and will be wonderful for our community, but it is outside the budget.
Early 2024 was spent looking for additional funding. Mid-year, the City of Ruston was awarded a TMobile Hometown Grant for $50,000, and they also secured state recreation funding to help close the funding gap. Since then, we’ve been communicating with New Line about construction documents for the job. The dirt work and the park will be two separate projects, and the first should go out to bid in the first quarter of 2025.
2024 also included demolition of the old locker rooms at the pool, Joey and Jessica spoke at the Civic Engagement Institute for Youth, the Board of Directors were involved with the TMobile Hometown Grant presentation, and Joey’s class at LA Tech helped develop new obstacles for Down the Hill DIY so that we can continue to support our local skate community.
Building a skatepark in the former city pool has proven to cost more money than was originally expected, but Friends of Ruston Skatepark is dedicated, and the City of Ruston is committed, to giving kids a safe place to skate. We look forward to growing this creative, independent sport community in Ruston. Please hang in there a little longer with us! We thank you for your continued support and belief in our project.
Thanks for your continued support! More to come!!
Friends of the Ruston Skatepark
How it started and where it’s at.
In 2015, Ruston, LA Skaters met and discussed a potential skatepark. Everyone was handed a piece of paper to draw their ideal park. All of these drawings were combined together. Finally, Hunger skateparks made these renderings of the park. The city of Ruston in 2017 purchased construction documents for the park. Ruston was then hit by a very destructive tornado which postponed the creation of the park. In 2020 we had a hurricane hit Ruston and the city is still feeling this is a result. Covid -19 brought many skaters out of the woodwork, contacting me about the standing of the park. This put me in full swing to approach the city to get this rolling again. I started a petition which I hoped to gather 200 signatures. In less than a month we had 2,500 signatures. We have formed Friends of Ruston Skatepark, a nonprofit organization, so that we can fundraise for the park. Friends of Ruston Skatepark raised $250,000, the City of Ruston will pitch in the rest. The location is the abandoned city pool at Memorial Park on Georgia Ave. Please donate anything you can to make this dream a reality. Skaters need a safe place to skate!
Park Designs
Street and Park
The Skatepark of Ruston will have street sections and park sections. The park is designed to flow for beginners to advanced skaters. The skaters of Ruston had a design phase in 2016 and came up with ideal park scenarios. We took those drawing and gave them to Hunger Skateparks and they worked the plans you see above.
Build it.
It all began with an idea from Miguel Lasala and Brian Lottie. While Brian was a visiting artist at Louisiana Tech School of Design. Miguel and Brian met with Mayor Ronnie Walker to discuss a potential skatepark in Ruston, LA. The Mayor agreed that the project needed to happen. A location was soon declared at the abandoned city pool at Memorial Park on Alabama Street in Ruston. I took over the project in 2017. Currently the park is an eyesore with enormous potential. The park is only a few blocks from Ruston’s downtown area. It is also across the street from the Boys and Girls Club, and the Ruston Farmers Market.
Grow it.
This park will allow skaters a safe place to skate. When the park is built, it will provide a breeding ground for future skaters. Imagine how many kids will get to build a community at this place. This is of the main reasons the community and people in the nearby ares should support this project. Do it for the kids!