With $1 million raised, Newport is about to get a skatepark. What to know.

Friends of Newport Skatepark finally secured its $1 million fundraising goal, ensuring local skaters will be able to have a space of their own, hopefully by the end of this summer.

“This was a really big group effort,” FONS president Mike Richards said. “Whether individual donors gave $10 or over $100,000, there are so many people in this community that gave what they could and through that, really showed their support for this great project, so we give thanks to everyone who gave $10, who bought a sweatshirt, who came out to the Broadway Street Fair, all the way up to the larger foundations and individuals and towns who were able to give more significant amounts.”

Paul Marshall, one of the FONS directors, said the team behind the nonprofit said they would have built a skatepark with whatever amount of money they were able to receive through their fundraising efforts, but the $1 million goal will allow them to create the best skatepark they can bring to the community.

“I was surprised by how open and generous our community was,” Marshall said. “I think this is such a great example of how wonderful our community is.”

FONS is getting two designs for the park from Spohn Ranch, Inc., a California-based company that has designed skateparks in cities all across the country, and expects to get the final design at the end of this month. Once the final design is settled on, FONS plans to submit the designs to the Tree and Open Space Commission and the Newport City Council for their approval to be constructed near the new basketball court on John H. Chafee Boulevard.

Although there is not a true final design as of right now, professional skateboarder Donny Barley, one of the directors of FONS who helped with the design of the park, said the design is built so skaters can go from feature to feature without having to get off their board.

“All of it is going to be put together to where the whole park will be conductive, so that when you hop on your board you can go from one point to another, into the flow bowl, out of the flow bowl, into the street (skate style) area, and out of the street area,” Barley said.

One of the main visions for the park is accessibility to skaters of all backgrounds, Barley said. He emphasized the community aspect of skateparks, and how excited he is to mentor the next generation of skaters and that kids in the North End will have a skatepark in their backyards.

“It doesn’t matter how long you’ve been skateboarding or if you want to show up to the skate park and it's the first time you’ve been on a board, come on down because there will be an abundance of things you can ride day one on a skateboard if you’re brand new,” Barley said.

FONS sole focus right now is getting the skatepark built, Richards said, so the future of the nonprofit itself is still relatively up in the air. However, Richards said they plan to continue being stewards and caretakers for the park even as ownership shifts to the city of Newport. He also said the nonprofit envisions having programming, such as events, camps, lessons and even competitive teams, take place at the park.

“This is a ‘Build it, they will come,’” Richards said. “Now, with the infrastructure there, other groups, not just Friends of Newport Skatepark, can start building programming at the park and that’s what I’m really, really excited for.”

Despite having a fairly robust skateboarding subculture, Newport has been without a proper skatepark since Sid Abbruzzi’s Skater Island in Middletown closed in 2004. Abbruzzi, another director at FONS and a longtime fixture in Newport’s extreme sports scene, said it was difficult to get approval to place a skatepark anywhere in the city until the Newport City Council finally approved a spot for the project in 2022.

“It’s going to create a brand new generation of skateboarders,” Abbruzzi said. “With its own legitimate space, Newport is going to thrive. There are going to be skateboarders coming in from all over New England, up and down the East Coast, to ride this park, and then in the local community, there will be a couple kids who will start there and go all away. Twenty years from now, a 7-year-old kid who started at Newport Skatepark will be a pro.”

This article originally appeared on Newport Daily News: Newport skatepark raises $1 million, construction to start in 2024