Skaters keep rolling towards opening of new skatepark

Culture Skate Factory and Push Project summer programs merge skating and art

Two summers ago, Carpinteria Skate Foundation celebrated Go Skate Day by hosting a groundbreaking ceremony and fundraiser at the site of the new skatepark. At the time, the location right next to Carpinteria City Hall was nothing but a dusty, underused lot, and the skatepark was only a dream and an architectural rendering on paper.

But now, construction crews have been busy for the past few months, laying concrete quarter-pipes, bowls, ledges – even with “taco” and “wave” features – and the skatepark is looking more and more complete every day, while the local skating community is stronger than ever with the Culture Skate Factory and Push Project summer programs.

Carpinteria Skate Foundation hosted a lowkey event for Go Skate Day this year, with a day of skating, pizza and art at the new headquarters on Casitas Pass Road in Shepard’s Place shopping center on June 21. A small group of skaters showed up for a best trick contest on some of the new ramps and ledges outside the shop, which has become the de-facto hub for all things skating in Carpinteria.

Since opening last September, The Culture Skate Factory has been teaching youth how to merge their passions for skateboarding and art, with hands-on lessons in screen printing, pressing skateboards, and developing their own graphic designs. The foundation also teamed up with Carpinteria Unified School District to create the Push Project, which offers the lessons as an afterschool program. The Push Project hosted a showcase earlier this month to display art, clothing and D.I.Y. skateboards made by local students.

This summer, the Carpinteria Skate Foundation is holding three-week summer camps free of charge to district students, with the first camp sessions held Monday through Friday from June 26 to July 14. The first threeweek session will be for ages 10 to 14, and the second three-week session, from July 17 to Aug. 4, will be focused on skaters between the ages of 15 and 18.

According to Carpinteria Skate Foundation Executive Director Peter Bonning, “Each week of camp has a different curriculum, and

BY RYAN P. CRUZ

all of the work is visual arts focused through the lens of skateboard culture and branding.”

Campers will also be skating daily –though no previous experience is necessary, Bonning said – in addition to camp projects like designing your own skateboard, screenprinting custom t-shirts and a collaborative mural project that the whole group will complete together.

The first week is fully booked up for ages 10 to 14, but there is still room for youth to enroll in the second and third weeks of the camp.

On Saturday, the Carpinteria Skate Foundation will be rolling in the Carpinteria Independence Parade, and Bonning is encouraging skaters, scooter-riders, and rollers of “all ages, abilities, and wheeled craft” to join in by meeting the group on Ninth Street (between Linden and Elm) before the parade.

In other skate news, the new park right near city hall has been coming together more and more each week. Bonning said crews from California Skateparks and Lash Construction “are working hard to deliver a world class facility to our community.”

While Bonning could not offer a firm opening date, he said that the park is “very close to completion,” and that the organization would be announcing the opening as soon as it receives word from construction crews.

“We would like to thank everyone for their patience and support over the years,” he said.

Early projections estimated that the park would be open near the end of this year or early 2024, but either way, Bonning says the city should expect a “big blow out” next summer for Go Skate Day, which the foundation is already planning as a huge day at the new skatepark compete with skating contests, live music and local food vendors.

For more information, follow @carp_skatepark on Instagram or visit carpskatepark.org.

CRUZ

ON SPORTS

All through my childhood, sports were my mental crutch. Even if I wasn’t conscious of it, I used sports as a way to process things, forget my bad days or just to get that next hit of serotonin.

All year long, I was either playing sports, watching sports or thinking about sports.

It was football, basketball and baseball during the school year, then BMX bikes and skateboarding through the summer. But when I was 16 – and just a few weeks before my first season of varsity football – I suffered a major foot injury that changed everything. I dislocated several bones in my right foot, and it required surgery that kept me in a cast for over five months.

Suddenly, for the first time in my life, I had to face what I was more than an athlete.