Steph Stough
– Art & Life Editor –
According to STLCC-Meramec students Max Berglin, 21, and Kyle Crandall, 19, skateboarding in the county has been difficult over the years, from being kicked out of places to being threatened. In February of 2009, Crandall and his friends looked to the city for a place to skate, a place where they could congregate.
“We wanted to build something to skate. There wasn’t a skate park in the city. We have ideas for stuff that doesn’t exist, and we make it happen,” Crandall said.
It was then that they found an abandoned parking lot, just smaller than the size of a football field, which lies under an old bridge off Kingshighway. Its located close the intersection of Kingshighway and Southwest Avenue by the Don Brown car dealership and the U-Haul. The park has been simply dubbed, “Kingshighway.”
They got permission from the city and then decided that this would be the perfect area for a skate park. “Our agreement with the city is that we have to paint over the graffiti and pick up all of the trash, and they will just let us build and skate there,” Crandall said.
To get started, Crandall needed to know how to work with concrete, which would be what the ramps are made out of. He found guidance from two guys that had heard about the project, J.P. and Chris. After they had heard about the idea, they helped teach Crandall how to do some concrete work that helped launch the park. Crandall said that Chris works for a skate park company, Air Speed.
“He travels around the country building skate parks, but when he’s home, he’s helping us out at the bridge. He taught me how to do a lot of concrete work, along with my friend J.P., who built a skate park out in Hermann, Missouri,” Crandall said.
To get the skate park underway, Crandall and his friends organized two fundraisers that brought in more than $4,000.
“We had two fundraisers, both of which raised around $2,000 each. They were at a place called Skatium, a roller hockey rink, on South Broadway. We set up a bunch of ramps, sent out flyers and told a bunch of people about it. We had a really good turnout. Before that, it was just money coming out of our own pockets. We had 10 people throwing in to make it happen,” Crandall said.
Berglin said that everyone who utilizes the skate park brings in a sense of community.
“Most of the time we go down there, there’s someone we know. I think it’s really cool because when someone goes down there and sees someone working, they help. Everyone is welcome to give a helping hand,” Berglin said.
Since they started building the park, something they say they will continue to add on to, they have had five professional skate teams come out to the facility and have an average of 30-60 skaters each day in the summer, according to Crandall.
“I’ve seen people there from Pacific and even Columbia,” Berglin said.
They said that even crime and burglaries around the area have decreased, gaining support from businesses around the park.
“The people at the Don Brown and the U-Haul place really like us and the skate park being there. Since we have been there, their break-ins have been significantly lessened. There’s not always a homeless man spending the night under the bridge since we are keeping them out. They have been really supportive,” Crandall said.
They said they plan to have more added on to the park by summer and welcome St. Louis skaters to make use of the park.
“Skateboarding wasn’t like this at all two years ago,” Berglin said. “This place has completely reshaped skateboarding around St. Louis, and it has brought people together.”
