With a load of concrete and the helping hands of volunteers, Kona Skatepark Hawaii’s keiki bowl began taking shape Wednesday morning.
With a load of concrete and the helping hands of volunteers, Kona Skatepark Hawaii’s keiki bowl began taking shape Wednesday morning.
“They waited 25 years for this,” Kona Skatepark Association Treasurer Cynthia Hope said. “This is huge.”
“This” referred to vertical construction on the keiki bowl, a large, concrete structure shaped like a bowl, in which children can ride their skateboards. West Hawaii Concrete donated the first load of concrete, while Dreamland Skateparks from Lincoln City, Ore., oversaw the design and construction process, Hope said.
The skatepark is south of the Makaeo walking path at the Old Kona Airport Park. Skateboarders have been using a temporary park on a concrete slab originally intended to be a canoe halau for paddling club Kai Opua. The paddling club has, in the last couple of years, made headway on completing the halau, which would displace the skatepark. Hope said the county’s new master plan process for the entire park area, from the undeveloped northern end to the ball fields and tennis courts at the southern end, helped spur on skatepark progress.
The county set aside a small portion of land for the skatepark, and Hawaii County Council officials gave the association $35,000 in April to help with construction costs.
Parks and Recreation Director Bob Fitzgerald said it was good to see work under way.
“Obviously it’s a step in the right direction to have a place for the kids to skateboard,” he said. “It’s a job well done for all.”
Work on the keiki bowl should take about two weeks, with another week needed to get railings in place, Hope said, estimating children could be using the equipment in just three weeks.
Future phases of the park include a larger bowl and a large bowl combined with flat areas. The remaining three phases would cost about $887,000, although Hope said the association continues to solicit service and labor donations, as well as monetary ones.
Over the years, the association has raised about $125,000, Hope said. Major donors include The Bill Healy Foundation, the Atherton Family Foundation, Change Happens, Kukio, Friends for Fitness, Soils Plus and, with Wednesday’s concrete donation, West Hawaii Concrete.
Skateboarders and community members have been stopping by the work site, expressing their excitement — and a little bit of disbelief — that construction was happening this week, Hope said.
“It’s been talk for so long,” she added. “People don’t believe it until they see it. Now it’s real.”
Hope, who has been involved with the association for five years, although she doesn’t skateboard, said she sees something else positive coming from the whole process of getting the park off the ground.
“It’s teaching the kids how to get something done in a system,” she said, noting the council meetings and master planning events children and teens attended and at which they promoted the skate park.