Well-used Warren Skate Park gets an upgrade

May 29, 2021 | By Jesse McDougall

Recently, skate park builder Pierre Hall with a group of volunteers added the finishing touches on the Warren Skate Park’s most recent improvements, the biggest of which was replacing rough asphalt with 2,000 square feet of concrete. 

The roughly $9,000 project was funded in part by the Mad River Valley Recreation District along with sizable donations from Lawson’s Finest Liquids and the nearby Splinters Boardshop, as well as contributions from some 250 private donations.  

The Warren Skate Park is located beside the Warren Elementary School where the “DIY” skate park’s first concrete ramps were built in 2004. During the height of the pandemic last summer, Splinters Boardshop owner Travis Kerr said the park saw record use. He and Hall both sit on the board of the newly formed Vermont Skatepark Advocate Corporation which helps with the construction and maintenance of free skate parks throughout Vermont. As COVID-19 subsides, Kerr said he wants to run youth skate camps as well as other recreational programming. 

The Warren Skate Park community is closely linked to Waterbury’s skateboarding advocates who have plans for a new skate park on the horizon. It would replace the skate park at Hope Davey Park, now in use for 10 years. Professional snowboarder Jake Blauvelt from Waterbury Center is among the core group that hopes to see a concrete skate park constructed beside the Waterbury Dog Park in proximity at the popular complex near the Ice Center and the trailhead to the Perry Hill mountain bike trails.