SOAR closes in on skate park for Sisters

By the time the summer sun starts beating down on Sisters, local skaters will be able to work up a sweat on equipment at a new Sisters skate park.

SOAR (Sisters Organization for Activities and Recreation) is on the verge of ordering skate park equipment from the California-based Spohn Ranch, which manufactures ramps and other modular skating fixtures.

“We’re sort of debating between a series of ramps and a half-pipe,” said SOAR director Carrie Ward.

Sky Scott, an eighth-grader in Sisters, favors the series of ramps. He and his brother, sixth-grader Saul Scott, are two of the most active skaters who launched a drive for a skate park a year ago after merchants expressed displeasure at having skaters on the sidewalks around their businesses.

The skaters started agitating for a place to skate and SOAR stepped in to help make it a reality. The organization has gathered $42,000 in grants and gifts to buy equipment. It will be sited adjacent to the SOAR community center.

According to Ward, the modular units can later be incorporated into a larger concrete skate park, if SOAR can find a suitable piece of land on which to build.

Sky says “It would be a lot easier to have (a skate park) here and not have to, like, set up our own stuff or drive 20 miles (to Redmond’s skate park) to skate,” he said.

Saul said “a ton” of skaters will use the equipment — at least 50 and as many as 75 in his estimation.

Ward said the equipment is weatherproof and could be used on dry days in the winter. She said she isn’t sure how long manufacture and delivery will take, but her goal is to see skaters using the equipment outside her window by late June.

Author Bio

Jim Cornelius, Editor in Chief

Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.

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