ACTUAL I TÉ • NEWS
Skatepark project finished and ready for fun
Local street artist Nicholas J. Halley is proud to lend his edgy talent to celebrating and promoting the Planchodrôme Joël Gauthier Skatepark.
Adults were also involved in the project. Mark Bokkelman was the first skatepark committee president during phase one which saw the initial design worked out, groundbreaking and installation of a few basic skatepark features on the present site at the west end of Parc Simon in Rockland. The Gauthiers became involved with the committee executive during the second and third phases of the project, which was then named in honour andmemory of their son, Joël, one of the original members of the committee’s youth corps and a dedicated and enthusiastic skateboarder until his unti- mely passing. Several of the guest speakers during the opening ceremony also noted that the ska- tepark project might never have developed the way it did without the constant and dedi- cated involvement of Clarence-Rockland’s youth community. «It was you,» saidMayor Guy Desjardins, «the youth of the community who made it real. It is people like you who make skate- parks successful, projects like these are an asset to the community.» Besides the ramps, half-pipes, slide rails and other features, the skatepark also boasts
a bright and colourful promotional mural courtesy of Nicholas J. Halley, a local street artist, whose distinctive work graces several skateparks and other outdoor recreational facilities in the City of Ottawa and who also has some of his mural work claimed for
several private collections. He said he was inspired to make his contribution to the project after hearing and reading about it and Joël Gauthier. «This parkmakes me proud to live in Cla- rence-Rockland,» he said.
GREGG CHAMBERLAIN gregg.chamberlain@eap.on.ca
The final weld is done, the last brushstroke of paint laid on. After more than a decade of planning, fundraising, and work, the Planchodrôme Joël Gauthier Skatepark is finished and ready to provide fun for all of Clarence-Rockland’s young people. «Today is about saying ‘Thank you’,» said Pierre Gauthier, president for the skatepark committee during the second and third phases of the memorial recreation project. «Thank you for your support inmaking this park a reality.» Despite intermittent drizzles of rain, there was a sizable crowd of youths and adults for the June 5 official opening ceremony of the Planchodrôme Joël Gauthier Skatepark. Gauthier and Lynne Gauthier, secretary-trea- surer for the skatepark committee, offered thanks to all of Clarence-Rockland’s youth sector, with special note to the youngmem- bers of the skatepark committee, for their dedication and perseverance on a project which the youth of Clarence-Rockland ini- tiated in 2004.
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Even though last Friday’s drizzle rainmade things too slick for tricks, local cyclists and skateboarders still managed to enjoy themselves after the official ceremony was done.
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