This is a love story.
May 2000
May 2001
May 2002
Ian Merrick sets one up for the home team.
Donald supported it's youth 100%.
From asphalt slab and home made ramps to Oregon's first
and only public skate pool,
Donald has been nothing but love, trust and good spirit.
Praise and gratitude to the 750 people of Donald, Oregon.
Donald Rules.
Location
Donald is about 15 miles south of Portland, just
off I-5
Directions
From I-5 take the Donald/Aurora exit and head
west. In about one mile, go south/left on Butteville Road.
At the stop sign, go east/left on Main St. The park is next to the
railroad tracks.
The park is 2500 square feet and cost about $35,000.
It was built by Dreamland in less
than a month.
Who would have thought of a better and more appropriate
use of space? Not many, but only one group would build it.
Donald's new park is not just another concrete
addition to Oregon, it is a cultural addition to skateboarding in Oregon.
The pool is a slightly smaller Nude Bowl, a long
time icon of insane sessions in the desert. Within skateboarding
is a devout and burly sub-culture of pool
riders. Skate parks owe much of their roots to pools. Donald's
is almost nine feet deep. But kids are incredible. In two days
of skating the pool, local kids almost reached the coping. Two days!
These are kids that had never before ridden vert. In two weeks, the
13 year olds were able to carve over the stairs! That is amazing.
The quality of most skate parks currently designed
and built is being butchered for false ideas of "safety" and community
pride.
This is a foolish idea, but it is being used by predatory
companies such as Purkiss-Rose -the most prolific skatepark designer in
the country- and modular skatepark companies to obtain city bids for skateparks.
Often the decision makers are adults and parents who don't skate.
Purkiss Rose and the like are taking advantage of this ignorance and preying
on fear. They promote the idea of "safe" skate parks. But,
again, this theory is the opposite of truth. Big structures are not
dangerous. What is dangerous is when skills outgrow facility.
This leads to boredom and frustration, which trouble and injury often follow.
Skate parks need to be built to encourage skills, not
retard them.
Another idea that Purkiss Rose and other playground
industry companies are exploiting is "community design" or "community input."
Almost never is it the case that there is enough
experience in a community to design a super skate park. Why do we
allow these facilities to be so strongly influenced by the whims and fantasies
of 13 year olds? If you want a super skate park, hire professionals.
Dreamland, for example, builds what they feel is the best design, period.
They have been skating their whole life. They understand what works
and what doesn't. The country, especially California, is littered
with examples of community designed skate parks. How many are on
the top ten list? One, Burnside. How many communities have
to be robbed before there is an understanding that community designed skate
parks don't work well?! When a skate park is designed (or built)
poorly, everyone loses. The youth lose opportunity to grow.
The City loses money, both on what it spent and the value lost in a vacant
facility and lose faith in skateboarding. Parents lose the hope of
excitement for thier kids. Kids are awesome, but regarding skate
parks they shine in the result, not the process. Kids and adults
who don't skate have no place in the design process of a super skate park.
It sounds harsh, but it's not. I guarantee there are more good feelings
behind a super skate park than a poor one.
Donald city members addressed the fact that they
didn't know anything about skate parks, though they had built a wooden
one themselves. They trusted the professionals of Dreamland.
Beginning of story. Now Donald gets visitors every single day, from
all over the place, Australia, England, California, Japan, Washington,
Newberg. The last time I visited, there were six women and a daughter
there, all skating.
So don't let the greedy people at Purkiss Rose
or Skate Wave or any of these other modular skate park companies, prey
on ignorance based on fear and fantasy in your community. Purkiss
Rose has designed more parks than any other company in the States.
Then reason would suggest they are the best designers in the country, that
their designs, from sheer practice if nothing else, are excellent.
How many Purkiss Rose skate parks are in the world's top ten list or even
top thirty.
Donald sets the best example for a small skate park
Mark "Red" Scott
.