44 • The Columbia Valley Pioneer
VALLEY NEWS
May 18, 2007
Friends want Richard remembered By Leah Shoemaker Special to The Pioneer A group of local youths are upset that the skatepark in Invermere, now under construction, will not be named after the late Richard Benn. In 2002, fifteenyear-old Richard Benn, well-known by his nickname CrisQo, drowned in Lake Windermere. Shortly after the tragRichard Benn edy a group of Richard’s friends and family got together and decided they wanted to do something in memory of him. “A week after CrisQo died, we started fundraising,” says Janine Sweetman, age 19. With the idea of a skateboard park, brought to them by Richard’s family, the group started fundraising. They held a Punk Show with door prizes donated by the community, a bottle drive, a garage sale and also went caroling to raise money for CrisQo’s skateboard park. Businesses agreed to put out donation boxes for the skateboard park. The group raised $6,266.87 in about a year, before frustration settled in. The money they raised was a great accomplishment, but not nearly enough for a skateboard park. Support started dwindling. “People didn’t think it was going to go anywhere, and we had such a long way to go,” Janine recalls of the loss of interest in the project.
But another skateboard park was in the planning stage, unbeknownst to most of the original group of CrisQo’s fundraisers. Funding and planning started for this skatepark, part of the Mount Nelson Athletic Park. The new skatepark began construction this spring and should be ready to skate this year, says Gordon Bagan, one of the organizers. Mr. Bagan, who has been working on the Mount Nelson Skate Park for four years, was under the impression that the money raised for CrisQo was still in the hands of Richard’s father - a belief shared by many people. However, the money has in fact been given over to the Mount Nelson project, as confirmed by Karen Cote, Invermere Director of Finances; as well as Nikki Davidson, CrisQo’s older sister. Organizers for the Mount Nelson park have promised Richard’s family that two concrete benches will be etched with CrisQo’s name. But many students are still upset that the skatepark will not be named after CrisQo. “I just don’t understand why they wouldn’t do it,” replied Korrina Ede, 19. “I don’t think the town would have thought about building a skatepark if it weren’t for us.” Mr. Bagan explained that the park cannot be named CrisQo Memorial Skatepark for legal reasons. “Because of the restrictions we’ve got in terms of the government,” he said. “We took large amounts of money from lots of people . . . he is an important part of this park, but he’s not the whole park.” However, for a lot of people Richard is still the whole park. “When they decided to change the name of the
park, it almost felt like people had gotten ripped off, because the money that we raised for the park, people donated because it was special to them, because it was for Richard,” said his sister Nikki. “They wanted to be a part of his legacy, a part of immortalizing him in a sense. I don’t think that as many people would have supported our committee if it was not a memorial park for him. “So in that sense, I feel like we were led to believe that we were going to be able to give people this amazing way to remember Richard and his passion, which was skateboarding. I just hope that they keep their promise to those who raised the money and also to those who donated the money.” Mr. Bagan is aware that many of the youths from the original CrisQo project are upset. “Maybe we can put something in one of the bowls and call it The CrisQo Bowl.” Upon hearing this idea, Nikki said: “That would be a wonderful idea and would mean the world to a lot of people.” As one of the only projects being built for the youth of Invermere, the skatepark is an amazing thing happening for our town. It is a top-of-the-line design and has full support from the community. And for a group of friends and family, the skatepark has deeper emotional meaning: it will be a lasting tribute to the memory of a young man who died too soon. They want to make sure that CrisQo’s name will never be forgotten. Editor’s Note: Leah Shoemaker is a Grade 12 student at David Thompson Secondary School who plans to enter the journalism program at Southern Alberta Institute of Technology in Calgary in September.
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