New ‘pop-up’ skate park in portion of North Parking Lot off of West Lake Street will be open through 2023
A new temporary skate park is open in a section of the North Parking Lot at Bde Maka Ska!
With assistance from the skate community, Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board (MPRB) Trades and Planning staff designed, fabricated and installed skate features using salvaged old park furnishings. Staff from the MPRB Cement Shop also poured new concrete skate boxes for the skate park, located in a section of the Bde Maka Ska North Parking Lot off of West Lake Street (Google Maps).
There’s some painting scheduled later this month, but the skate park will be open for the rest of the season and is expected to remain in place through 2023. Its condition and future use will be evaluated after 2023.
Thank you to volunteers Ian Wheat, Dan Pergrin and Witt Siasoco for their help with layout and working with MPRB staff to make repurposed and new skate elements desirable for skaters. Thanks also to the many volunteers from the skate community who attended an Open House, gave feedback via online survey, and helped smooth out existing curbs sections.
Project History
Last year unpermitted skateboarding features appeared at the northeast corner of Bde Maka Ska, which interfered with vendor operations nearby. The skateboarding features had to be removed, but the MPRB understands they were very popular and there’s a lot of interest in a skate park near the lake.
MPRB staff worked with local skateboarding advocacy group City of Skate to review several potential skate park locations within Bde Maka Ska Park and identified space for a temporary, or “pop-up,” skate park in a section of the north parking lot.
MPRB Trades staff agreed to create new skate features from parts saved from past park construction projects to help lower costs and bring the project to fruition.
Since the Skate Park Activity Plan was completed in 2018, the largest skate park in the Minneapolis park system opened at Elliot Park last summer and plans are moving forward for a new skate park at Painter Park, expected to open in 2023.