The skatepark continues its landing with a new event

PORTSMOUTH – Last week, Portsmouth Skatepark was all hands on deck for the benefactors as they gathered volunteers and resources for the inaugural Portsmouth Skatepark Jam held this weekend to welcome skate enthusiasts and fans to the park, celebrate the culture of the skate community and raise funds for future improvements.

The event featured a long list of musical talent, vendors, games and prizes, and much more. The event was planned to further engage people with the park while raising funds for future improvements.

The concert featured the talents of Nearly Mind, The Fliplighters, ALLT, Rockwell's Ghost and Skintt. Music lasted from 11am to 5pm.

There were also vendors on site including The Landing, Fizzy's, Kristin's Corner, Texas Peach Grill, Flatboy Q, Flockdining and Squeeze the Day Lemonade.

“The whole point of this is to get the word out about the skatepark,” said co-organizer Noah Fannin. “I talk to a lot of people, mostly young people because I’m a teacher, and they don’t even know we have a skatepark. So that’s a piece of it.”

One of the judges for the figure competition was unable to make it to the event and Fannin said he had to take his place. Although he is worried about his friend, he said being an interim judge is exciting.

“I was announcing all the events, like best trick in the bowl, and I was on the mic yelling out the times. It was like a big skate event and it was a lot of fun,” Fannin said. “Especially with the crowd we had. We had been promoting it for a while, but I had no idea how many people would come. It was exciting to see that many people.”

Fannin said they were all shocked to see hundreds of guests show up to celebrate with them. He also believes that not only were locals there, but fans of the bands also came to Portsmouth to participate, bringing people from Huntington, Charleston and beyond.

Fannin is organizing the event alongside his friend Dr. Lemons

Fannin said desired improvements include shade structures, programmed lighting and new equipment for the park. While they have a track in sight from a partner who is funding the shade structures through the Scioto County Community Action Organization, the rest is up to the skaters.

“Right now there's just one street light that doesn't do much, but we'd also like to invest more in expanding more attractions,” Fannin said.

To the surprise of many, the city of Portsmouth managed to show progress on site just a day before the event, installing a large umbrella structure with the promise of another to come soon.

“I love the shade structure. It’s actually a lot bigger than it looks in the pictures. It’s a 20 x 20 structure. The way they set it up, between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m., it covers the picnic area with shade,” Fannin said. “We have two that need to be set up and the city has our second one ready to go. It’s been a game changer for us because the skaters are always burning and now we have a place to rest and hydrate.”

Fannin explained that while they accepted donations from visitors, the intention was to showcase the park and introduce new people to the hobby, so they didn't charge admission or push it. Despite that, they still managed to raise into the four figures.

“We received $800 in cash directly and we also had anonymous, sealed envelopes to give to the Scioto Foundation, so we know we raised over $1,000 for future development,” Fannin explained.

Fannin has spoken a lot in recent weeks about the park, which represents a huge benefit to the city, and particularly to the downtown area, where the park has renovated a previously underutilized space. As a teacher, Fannin also sees benefits to the park beyond community development.

“If these kids aren’t playing sports, they’re not really active and they don’t have any hobbies to get moving,” Fannin said of the park’s benefits. “You can skate in the park, ride scooters, bikes; pretty much anything with wheels can be used for fun.”

Overall, Fannin and the volunteers said they were very pleased with the turnout for the event and looked forward to future events, further development and continued skating.

“I personally think it’s going to be a big project for us,” Fannin said. “Everybody I’ve talked to has said they have to park by Valley Wholesale Foods, with cars parked everywhere, which is exciting to me because that part of town doesn’t see a lot of traffic. A lot of the kids have said they’ve never been there before and they’re looking forward to going back. I’ve talked to guys who have been to a lot of these events, and they’ve often said they’ve been to events like this, but with much better funding and we’ve still done a better job. I think a lot of that has to do with the park, because not everyone has a bowl, and we have a huge one. It’s not super advanced, and everyone can learn there because it’s accessible, but it’s still nice and we’re just thinking about more improvements in the future.”