For SLC, our 11,000 square foot concrete skatepark replicated an urban plaza environment with recreations of popular features today’s top street skaters are riding. With a huge overlap into our overall design process, having our skateparks and event courses scrutinized by the world’s top professional skaters on a daily basis, provides us with invaluable feedback that is incorporated into our municipal projects for an unmatched level of quality.  Finals highlights can be seen here!

Via Alli Sports:

“In what the riders were calling out as one of the best courses the Dew Tour has ever built, the guys were throwing trick after trick as proof. Once the final jam was underway, it was Decenzo who got his rhythm going with a nollie heel down the gap, and solid tech tricks while making full use of the course. His intro run, earlier jam and final jam score of 87.18 gave him the win and it also earned him the overall lead for the Dew Cup. When the competition ended, he credited the course with helping him take the win.

“The way they put the whole big section together was good, the hubbas were the right height and the rails were the right height, steepness and length,” Decenzo said. “It was great for progressing and landing tricks consistently.”

Stay tuned for the final design for the Dew Tour finals in Las Vegas!

Red Mountain Adventure Park – Woodland Park, Colorado, originally uploaded by spohnranchskateparks.

The highly anticipated Red Mountain Adventure Park officially opened last week, as hundreds of Colorado skateboarders and BMX riders enjoyed their first runs on the fresh concrete and shaped earth. In the works since 2008, the park features a 16,000 square foot freestyle BMX track and 8,000 square foot state-of-the-art concrete skatepark.

Spohn Ranch’s Jason Baldessari, who was instrumental in helping the City of Woodland Park obtain a grant for the project, was on hand to celebrate the park’s opening – testing out the skatepark for himself and getting great feedback from the local riders. Our next Colorado skatepark project comes to Alamosa, Colorado and is currently in the design phase, with construction slated for early October.

 

Aurora, Illinois – Official Grand Opening, originally uploaded by spohnranchskateparks.

June 21st, 2011 was the 9th annual International Go Skateboarding Day and Spohn Ranch had the privilege of celebrating the special day by skating and hanging out at the official grand opening of our latest design/build project in Aurora, Illinois.  Big thanks to the local skateshop, Yeah Board Shop, who organized a contest and product toss as part of the day’s festivities.  Parents and City officials also got in on the fun with the official ribbon cutting ceremony.

Our innovative design combined a colorful 8,000 square foot skate plaza, landscaped areas and  roughly 4,000 square feet of BMX terrain to create a dynamic action sports space.  The unique features and well-rounded course layout are already drawing great praise from the local skateboarders – with many hailing it the best skatepark in the entire state of Illinois.  Here is a great article from The Beacon News highlighting yesterday’s celebration.

Earlier this week, The International Association of Skateboard Companies (IASC) released the collectable event poster for the 9th annual Go Skateboarding Day, which will be held June 21, 2011.  This year’s poster was designed by Jim Phillips, the iconic skateboard artist and former art director for Santa Cruz Skateboards.

“Go Skateboarding Day works to honor and unite participants in the spirit of skateboarding and since its 2003 inception, has prompted cities to build skate parks, promoted local skate shops and raised money for local charities.”

June 21 will be a great day for skatepark committees and non-profit groups to organize fundraisers and raise awareness for local skatepark efforts.  Backed by an official the holiday, City officials and community members are quickly learning the power of skateboarding and why investing in quality skateparks is so vital to the hearts and minds of our Nation’s youth.  As always, it will also be a great day for skateboarding and BBQs at Spohn Ranch’s hundreds of skateparks across the country.  For help with planning skatepark fundraisers and events, get in touch today!

2011 D-Town Throwdown, originally uploaded by spohnranchskateparks.

Click the photo above to see all the action from third annual 2011 D-Town Throwdown contest at the American Airlines Arena in Dallas, Texas.  Organized by our sister company, the Action Park Alliance, and with course design/construction by Spohn Ranch, this year’s event was another huge success.  Check out the great article from Transworld Business covering the event

Through a partnership with the NHL’s Dallas Stars, the skate contest was organized as a pre-game festivity for Star’s March 19th game against the Philadelphia Flyers.  The event not only brings together some of Texas’ top talent, but also exposes a lot of non-skaters and community members to the magic that is street skateboarding – raising awareness and support for more public skateparks in Texas.  We’re already looking forward to next year’s event!

Possum Creek Skatepark Official Grand Opening, originally uploaded by spohnranchskateparks.

The ribbon cutting ceremony and demo by Freeride Surf/Skate Shop makes things official at our 18,000 square foot skatepark in Gainesville, Florida.

This Spohn Ranch design/build project from 2010 has been invaluable showcase of youth passion and creativity for the City of Gainesville since its soft opening in March. In a recent news article, Parks Commissioner Randy Wells described the park as “a tremendous asset to this part of town — the whole city really.” He also added that “the relative danger of skateboarding and other extreme sports is not as perilous as youths sitting at home idle on the couch.” Great remarks from another satisfied Spohn Ranch client!

This past weekend Spohn Ranch Skateparks had the privilege of setting up motocross jumps and our signature 13′ vert ramp for the East Coast Surfing Championships in Virginia Beach.  This three day event was nothing but fun in sun!  Click here for further info on the industry’s leading action sports event division.

PacSun Custom Skatepark, originally uploaded by spohnranchskateparks.

In June of 2010, Spohn Ranch was called in to build a custom skatepark for bmx and skateboard demonstrations at PacSun’s Summer Solstice event at the Santa Monica Pier.

As the leader in custom skateparks and vert ramps for special events, Spohn Ranch delivered another great course for this event.

For further coverage of the event check out the Fox team’s blog here.

Long Beach, California Hybrid Skatepark, originally uploaded by spohnranchskateparks.

On Sunday, January 17th, the youth of Long Beach, California will officially have a brand new facility where they can exercise their passions and distract themselves from the hardships of living in what 1st District Councilman Robert Garcia called “one of the most dense and poor communities in Long Beach.” The new skatepark, which replaced existing equipment and expanded upon the site’s footprint, is a 8,000 sq. ft. hybrid style skatepark, consisting of TrueRide ramps and pre-cast Spohncrete features.  To see more shots of the skatepark, click the photo above.

Despite some initial community opposition, the skaters and their advocates fought hard to show that a new facility was a much-needed addition to their neighborhood. “One of the first things I told the city manager is that I want to make sure that we build that park, because I’ve seen the power and impact it has had on that community,” Councilman Garcia said. For the vulnerable youth of Long Beach, providing more safe places to skate is a great way to keep them active and out of trouble.

Now with all of the construction and landscaping complete, the new skatepark will be a source of pride for the community and its skaters for decades to come. The park’s official grand opening is set for Sunday, January 17th, at 1pm. The day’s festivities will include professional skating demos and speeches from Councilman Garcia, lead skatepark advocate and former Councilman Mike Donelon, and Mike Vallely, a professional skateboarder and Long Beach native. Councilman Garcia will also announce his plan to name the facility the Michael K. Greene Skatepark after Black Mike, an influential Long Beach local who was shot and killed a few years prior.

Here’s to more positive recreational spaces in the City of Long Beach! RIP Black Mike.

LA Skate Plaza, originally uploaded by spohnranchskateparks.

This past week the Ambassador Series honored the 1-Year Anniversary of the grand opening of the LA Skate Plaza in Wilmington, California. Big thanks to Element Skateboards, HOT 106, X-Games winner Jake Brown, and especially the Ambassador Series who all helped put together this event for the youth of Wilmington.

In 2008, Spohn Ranch teamed up with Maxwell Billieon of the Ambassador Series and professional skateboarder Paul Rodriguez to create a truly amazing skatepark for the city of Wilmington. One year ago, the LA Skate Plaza officially opened with largest launch in the history of Los Angeles, with almost 4,000 skaters in attendance.

Since then, the park has averaged 250-300 skaters a day, has become a drop-off location for seven neighborhood schools, and has helped reduce violent crime in the area by 90%. Spohn Ranch looks forward to many more successful years in Wilmington, as well as helping communities around the world provide more recreational spaces for kids to safely pursue their love of skateboarding and action sports.

5BORO Skateboards Southern Migration Tour, originally uploaded by spohnranchskateparks.

Only two weeks after the skatepark’s official grand opening, the Bethune Point Skatepark in Daytona Beach, Florida is quickly becoming a destination park for professional skateboarding teams and a wide diversity of skaters from around the East Coast.  5BORO Skateboards, a New York based skateboarding company, is doing a demo at the skatepark on December 1st as part of their Southern Migration Tour.

If you won’t be able to make it down to Daytona Beach for this demo, check out a few of the videos from the skatepark that are already popping up on youtube.  The unique skateable art pieces, authentic street-style elements like stairs and handrails, and ability to flow through the park are clearly a huge hit with the local skaters.  Check out the clips!

http://www.youtube.com/user/spohnranch2008#p/a/f/0/7FnE8w7jEPk

http://www.youtube.com/user/spohnranch2008#p/a/f/1/lIgfn3Ou-iE