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Freestone Park a beloved home for skateboarders

BY ASHLYN ROBINETTE

GSN Contributor

Past the playgrounds, past the fields and past the basketball, tennis and volleyball courts, skateboarders, rollerbladers, roller skaters, bikers and scooter riders unite at Freestone Skatepark.

“There is such a big community and family there,” said Grace Clayton, 15, who skates at Freestone almost every day. “We all care for each other, look out for each other and just hang out. It doesn’t matter what age you are at the skatepark. You could be 14 and be friends with someone who’s 30 and just be there to skate with them.”

Regardless of age, gender or looks, Freestone’s skatepark community supports and inspires one another, Clayton said.

“We all push each other to do better, we film each other, we give advice, we learn with each other and the list just goes on,” she said. “We all want to get better, so we do that with each other.”

Located at 1045 E. Juniper Road, Freestone Park was the Town of Gilbert’s first major district park and began with 65 acres that opened to the public in June 1988. After further construction in 2001, the skatepark was born.

At 22,000 square feet, the skatepark features a variety of ledges and rails, several banks and many transitions including spines, extensions and different depth bowls for every skater, according to SITE Design Group, Inc. It’s open daily from 5:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. and closed the first Tuesday of the month for cleaning and maintenance.

Most skateboarders said they choose Freestone over other parks because of its proximity to home. However, it’s truly the family that they’ve created there that keeps them going back, they said.

The convenience and camaraderie that Freestone offers is invaluable, skateboarders said, adding many people have grown up there and hold countless memories close to their heart.

Skateboarder Joshua Herrera spends nearly every day at Freestone, yet one experience there stands out from the rest. Herrera cherishes the time that the skating community rallied around the family and friends of Sergio, a fellow skateboarder who passed away.

“When our friend Sergio died, we all got together and skated for him ’till like 10 p.m. and like 70 people were there,” the 15-year-old said.

Skating in Sergio’s honor is just one illustration of the Freestone skateboarding community’s support for one another.

“Freestone is a sacred place to me and so many other people,” said Raymond Thomas, who has been rollerblading since he was 4.

Compared to other skateparks, Freestone has the most welcoming and unique environment, he said, noting the skateboarding scene is always changing as people move here or move away.

“But it’s always the same vibes there – a super accepting community that is friendly and caring,” Thomas, 25, said. “Going to some of the other parks around here, the atmosphere can be extremely standoffish or even hostile at times, especially being a rollerblader in skateboard-dominated parks.”

Freestone is different in the sense that scooter riders, skateboarders, rollerbladers, roller skaters and bikers can all coexist and help one another grow and develop as riders rather than treat each other with hostility, Thomas said.

“It’s not a super-closed-off community either,” he added. “New people show up for a single session or make it their new local and they’ll be brought in.”

Thomas’ favorite memory at Freestone was one night when he was trying to land a complex trick over a large gap. He was “getting completely wrecked” and had spent the last seven sessions, each about four hours long, repeatedly failing at landing the trick.

But this night he was determined to land it.

“Twenty or so people were riding in the park, but everyone stopped what they were doing to watch me attempt this stunt and give me room,” he said. “I get about two and half hours into the session with half an hour ’till the lights go out and finally land it. The whole park just erupts

Wyatt Cunningham carefully balances himself on a rail at Freestone Park in what is called a

backside grind. (David Minton/GSN Staff Photographer)

Mateo Pena watches as Rilee Hipps gets air over the funbox at Freestone Skate Park.

(David Minton/GSN Staff Photographer)

into cheers, locals and randoms going nuts. Hell, even the parents outside the park were going crazy. I felt like a rockstar.”

While the close-knit community at Freestone can be hard to see from the outside, anyone inside knows that regulars and newcomers alike help one another and “hype” each other up after learning new tricks, said Hudson Moffat, 23, who has been skateboarding for the last decade. “Freestone was the first skatepark I ever went to when I was younger and I

Making a difference

Desert Hills High School in Gilbert and the 480 Gilbert Niner Empire teamed up to raise $1,000 for local students and families during the holidays. The group gets its name from being fans of the San Francisco 49ers that meets at Buffalo Wild Wings in Gilbert to watch the games. Celebrating their drive are, from left, Edgard Olivares, Alex Aguilar, Betty Olivares, Dave Miller, Brandon Pongtorn and Raymond Rivera. 480 Gilbert Niner Empire member Jenna Huffman-Sorrels donated $500 of the total $1,000 contribution. (Special to GSN) just love the park so much still,” Moffat said. “My friends there just make it so enjoyable… the people I’ve met in my life skateboarding have taught me so much and, in my opinion, skating has made me a better person.”

While skateboarding is fun, skaters said that they’ve gained something deeper from their time on the board.

“Skateboarding teaches you to be persistent, not to give up even when it hurts,” Moffat said.

Parkgoers agree that skateboarding is much more than a hobby.

“I enjoy how skating makes you feel happy and how you can escape everything and you don’t have to focus on the world and enjoy yourself,” Herrera said.

Tyler Harker, who has been skateboarding since he was 6, recalled spending endless hours with his friends in junior high skating at Freestone. They would be dropped off most summer mornings and skateboard until the lights were turned off, taking occasional nap breaks underneath the cool shade of trees.

Now 28, Harker still skates at Freestone and said that he has learned numerous lessons there. “There’s nothing quite like skateboarding,” he said. “There’s something about having to take the responsibility for what happens and the inability to blame someone or anything else. There is simply you, your board, and the trick.”

Thomas shared Harker’s sentiment on responsibility, adding that rollerblading is a freeing activity because you only have yourself to rely on.

“When you rollerblade, you’re strapped into wheelie boots, so there’s no backing out and nothing for you to hold on to,” he said.

“With the falls hard and no option to bail, you gotta commit to something,” Thomas said. “Commit to an idea in your head of you doing something cool. When you commit to this intangible idea you reach a state of creative freedom where you are making it tangible. You think it, then you make it happen.

“It’s wonderful. You can experience flight, a real weightlessness, even if for just a moment. It’s exhilarating.”