Dreams. Cotton candy fluff and ethereal or a concrete reality? For Lompoc skate park, aka College Park, it is a dream that is literally a concrete reality and celebrates 16 years this month. A dream first dreamt in the late 1970’s (and perhaps before then) but discarded as impossible, became more probable with the advent of SB994.
SB994 was a little piece of legislature that included skateboarding as an extreme sport and limited the property owner’s liability if injury should occur. With the passing of SB994, skateparks began popping up in California and the dream kept alive by a few began to become more viable. The idea was then brought to the Lompoc Parks and Rec Youth Commission who made it goal to make the dream a reality.
Working together, the Youth Commission, Lompoc Parks & Rec and Surf Connection rallied the skateboarding community and raised monies as a good faith testament to the need. A piece of property was acquired through an agreement with Santa Barbara County and the Lompoc City Council agreed to fund the project through the City Budget. Several meetings with an experienced professional skate park designer and the skateboarding community resulted in the current design of the park. With the design in hand, the project was put out to bid, a builder selected and ground was broken. Soon a simple dirt field became a concrete playground for skateboarders of all ages and levels of ability to enjoy.
Today, the park is virtually unchanged from when it first opened. There is a fence that now surrounds it, some of the edges are showing the wear and tear of daily use and Lovin’ Lompoc helped revive its image a few summers back with some fresh splashes of color on the vertical aspects of the park, but overall, the concrete waves first put in place remain the same. What makes us smile the most, however, is that just about any given time, on any day, one can visit the park and see skateboarders challenging the concrete and enjoying the ride. And isn’t that what dreams are for, becoming concrete?