Since May, Naperville’s temporary skate park at Washington Street and Spring Avenue has attracted nearly 12,000 skaters, enough padded teenagers and young adults to make even the most skeptical person believe that skateboarding is a sport that is here to stay.
“The attendance we’ve seen there has just been unreal,” said Brad Wilson, a program manager for Naperville Park District. “It’s been great.”
At dusk Sunday, the temporary park will close for the season. But this year’s attendance has increased the support from park officials, said Ken Brissa, executive director of the Park District.
Last year, the district operated a much smaller temporary skate park on the south side of Naperville.
Officials did not keep track of attendance for that park but estimated about 500 youths used it in August 1999.
This year, the new park attracted 2,000 skaters a month, Wilson said.
Brissa said the district will continue to monitor where the skaters are coming from, which will help decide whether to build a permanent outdoor skate park.
In the meantime, the temporary skate park is on the move.
Next spring, it will reopen at the Frontier Sports Complex site, at 95th Street and Illinois Highway 59.
Brissa said the size of that site will be comparable to this year’s. The Park District will continue to charge admission to the park next year.
