Medicine Hat Mayor Linnsie Clark cuts the ribbon to the Hillwood skate park Saturday afternoon. Clark, alongside the Medicine Hat Skateboard Association, MLAs Drew Barnes and Michaela Frey and city representatives celebrated the official opening of the park located in NE Crescent Heights, put off in 2020 due to the pandemic.--NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
The last month has been nothing but positive for Medicine Hat skateboarders.
On Saturday, the City of Medicine Hat officially opened the Hillwood skatepark, located across the street from McCoy High School. The Hillwood park is the second integrated skate spot in Medicine Hat, next to the Kinsmen Skate Plaza installed at Kin Coulee Park.
The park has been in service since 2020 but there was no ceremony due to the COVID-19 measures of the time. Saturday’s park opening comes a little more than a week after city council rescinded an 18-year-old blanket ban on skateboarding in the city centre.
It was a busy affair Saturday as members of the Medicine Hat Skateboard Association, alongside Mayor Linnsie Clark, MLAs Drew Barnes and Michaela Frey, parks and recreation representatives, the Kinsmen club and other sponsors were in attendance and spoke at the ribbon-cutting ceremony.
Clark said it was great to see the age differences in the skateboarders in attendance and she was proud of how the project came together collaboratively.
“…the entire city is a potential playground so anyone can skate anywhere” Clark said in her speech. “As we know, sometimes that can cause conflict and so these spots where it’s a safe space for everyone to come together and do some physical activity while being creative, expressing yourself and building community is so cool. I’m really, really proud that this was built through collaboration.”
James Will, director of parks and recreation for the city, said how much the skateboarders take care of their locations in the city has been noticed.
“We see down near our office, we see the skate spot, we see skateboarders taking care of that space, making sure it’s maintained,” Will said.
Chris Nickel, vice-president of the Medicine Hat Skateboard Association, spoke with the News after the ribbon-cutting and said he was appreciative of the ceremony taking place.
“It’s been a long time coming; it’s really good to finally see this,” Nickel said. “It’s great to see the turnout, the support that we’ve had from not only our sponsors, but the city and the province, it’s really good to see. It’s nice for the kids to experience something like this, not only a few weeks ago, getting the bylaw rescinded. That was good for the kids to see that your good deeds make a difference and there are rewards for being a contributing member of the community.”
Nickel said he was inspired to see the city go through with the ceremony after the park opened during 2020 when they could not have any celebration.
Clark also spoke with the News after the ceremony and said the MHSA is an incredible group to work alongside and said they are great partners who have a positive attitude.
“When the Skateboard Association started, it was to try and change the image of skateboarding, and they’ve certainly accomplished that,” Clark said. “They’ve done that through a lot of hard work, but also developing strong relationships.”
The rescinding of the skateboarding bylaw was partly required to allow the city’s one-year e-scooter pilot project which launched May 26.
Clark said she has not yet rode on a Bird e-scooter yet but is willing to try it and has seen a lot of people riding them.
