Friday, February 2, 2018

The Cherry Creek Skatepark.



The area around my town is primarily farmlands once you drive a minute or two away from the minor metropolitan sprawl that is Dunkirk and Fredonia. There are a variety of farms scattered about the countryside with small village centers to go with them. The range of crops grown includes grapes, apples, corn, and much more. There are a number of dairy and cattle farms, too. My grandparents used to own a dairy farm. Most of the villages have one stop light, a post office, a pizza place, assorted businesses, and a school district. It's small town America. I'm describing the scene so you have a sense of what it is like and not making fun of it. Somehow there ends up being enough pavement so that the few kids who find skateboarding have a place to roll.

Cherry Creek is about sixteen miles or so away from where I live. You are going out into the country to get there as the drive involves a hilly and winding road to the middle of nowhere. It is not a fun place to get to in the winter. At the end of the 1990s, I think it was either 1998 or 99, the crew of skaters living there took over the village's basketball court since it was a large patch of smooth asphalt that wasn't being used. I don't recall the details, but it might have been a borderline hostile takeover. With the newly acquired field of blacktop, they built a collection of ramps, ledges, and other rickety wooden things to do tricks on. There was a little launch ramp, a big quarterpipe that was on the mushy and mellow side, and a fun box type of creation. They filled up the space and you had a bunch to skate. All in all, they did a good job, especially considering they were probably still in high school and you wouldn't expect a skatepark in a town like this.

We went out there a handful of times since it was a bit of drive to get there. I'm not sure how we found out about the spot, but I imagine either my friend Paul or Mikey met this kid Seth from Cherry Creek at some point skateboarding somewhere and got a phone number. Things always worked out back then in the days before social media. I doubt the skatepark lasted beyond that summer. Seth went to college in Fredonia in the early 2000s. I'd go skateboarding with him sometimes. He moved to Buffalo and I would see him at shows occasionally. I've lost touch with him in the years since. The other thing I remember about the place was that there would be a couple of cats hanging around the ramps. This was a good spot to hit up for a change of pace and some fresh air.

Note: The photo is of a farm by the school in Cherry Creek. I snapped the picture back when I worked for the newspaper and was out that way covering an event of some sort. I know Paul and I filmed a couple of video clips at the park, but I have no idea where that tape would be.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Love the post. Kids have it lucky these days. I grew up with parking lots, but the one 'park' we found miles away was so bad it was good

Henry said...

The photo reminds me of the outskirts of Franklin, TN. Lots of horse farms and pastures.