All-new Railyard Skate Park to open next April

Ben Joe, Niagara Gazette, Niagara Falls, N.Y.
·1 min read

Nov. 23—LOCKPORT — It's looking good, but the remade Railyard Skate Park isn't quite ready for use.

John Craig, chair of Lockport Community Services Inc., said a discussion about finishing tasks may take place within the next two weeks, but he expects the skatepark's official opening won't occur until next April, once winter is over.

Presently, Craig said, some landscaping is being done, and signage still has to be made and installed.

The all-concrete skatepark was financed almost entirely from grants, and Craig credited the grassroots group Friends of the Railyard Skate Park for pointing supporters towards the Built to Play grant, for which Lockport Community Services Inc. wrote the application. A $250,000 matching grant came through the Skatepark Project, formerly known as the Tony Hill Foundation, and the Ralph Wilson Foundation.

The match came from the Grigg Lewis Foundation ($125,000), the Verizon Media Foundation ($25,000), the John R. Oishei fund ($28,000), the Niagara River Greenway Commission ($30,000), and the City of Lockport, which chipped in $10,000 plus $12,000 for signage.

Other donors included the Sunrise Optimist Club, Dr. Jeffrey and Ellen Schratz, the family of Ron Winter, and Kristina Schutt, who donated her late son Jacob Minnick's $4,500 college scholarship from GEICO.

The skatepark, construction of which began with a ceremonial groundbreaking on July 22, was designed by Seattle-based Grindline and its CEO, Matt Fluegge. Features include stairs and railings, vertical ramps and other inclines.