By Breven Honda
Over the last eight months, a new skate park has been constructed at 100 Woodbury Lane, by Virgin Valley Elementary School and adjacent to Mesquite Blvd.
On Jan. 17 and six weeks ahead of construction schedule, the Mesquite Athletics and Leisure Services Department held a ribbon cutting ceremony for the new, all-wheel skate park, called “The Skate Yard.”
The new skate park opened to the public on Jan. 17, six weeks ahead of its construction schedule. (Photos courtesy City of Mesquite)
Kids of all ages and adults feeling young at heart were in attendance for the ribbon cutting event.
“I think it was a huge success,” Athletics and Leisure Services Director Nicholas Montoya said of the ribbon cutting ceremony on Jan. 21. “I can’t believe how many people actually showed. I knew it was going to be very popular, but not to that extent. I mean ages of teeny, tiny to 40-year-old men out there skating on the skate park. It was pretty impressive.”
The new skate park comes after a series of improvements to the town, like the new pickleball courts.
Montoya said the new skate park is able to attract the youth in a town where it is only the beginning for more places to go.
“There’s more amenities that the city has for all ages to do,” Montoya said. “I think we’re just touching the tip of the iceberg here, going down the road of new programs and events. We got the pickleball courts going in, we got the batting cages, we got the trail system, the skate park. We’re working with regional transportation, on walkability studies to get more downtown traffic and everything.
“What I like about the location is that when I picked it, it’s middle of Mesquite. You can get anywhere you want from right there.”
The discussions for a skate park began nearly two years ago when the idea was put on the local Community Development Block Grant list.
Prior to breaking ground in July 2024, there were things already in place. That included the City of Mesquite already owning the land. In addition, there were bathrooms and lights that were there.
As a result, it led to the skate park being the primary focus.
“We could concentrate more money to the actual skate park so we can make it bigger and better,” Montoya said.
Trade West Construction organized the project and Civil Science were the engineers and designers on the project.
City Mayor Jesse Whipple, along with Council members Wes Boger and Paul Wallace were in attendance for the ribbon cutting event. Council members Karen Fielding and Kevin Parrish wanted to attend but had prior commitments.
Montoya said he received positive emails from city officials, both past and present, including former Mayor Al Litman.
“They all sent emails saying, ‘Hey, this is great. Happy to be a part of it,’” Montoya said. “Even the previous mayor and previous Councilmen sent emails to me tell us how excited they are about this. So, they might not be Councilmen and the Mayor anymore, but they’re still excited for the City of Mesquite. They really care.”
The park is open to those with skateboards, scooters, bikes but not motorcycles and similar items.
Since the opening of the new skate park, Montoya has traveled to the new facility from time to time.
Although there is no direct person watching the facility, like a lifeguard would at a pool, Montoya is hoping that more people take precautions, like wearing a helmet.
“I’ve gone by there a few times every day just to check it out and basically see how many people have gotten hurt. But no one’s gotten hurt. Knock on wood because there was a lot of people there that were not wearing helmets,” Montoya said, especially during the ribbon cutting ceremony.
“I’m just nervous because it is skate at your own risk. We do want you to try to wear helmets, elbow pads, shin guards, knee pads and stuff like that.”
As people become more aware of skate park safety, Montoya said this is a place where children have the possibility of growing into future stars because of the new skate park in Mesquite.
“Just seeing those little, teeny kids as faces, they weren’t even going down the ramps,” he said. “They were on their little bikes; they were happy to be there and seeing what’s going on. Those are possible future Tony Hawks.”
