New skatepark coming to Tacoma

The City of Tacoma has announced construction plans for a Skate Park based on community demands.

After a long history of dangerous skateparks, old equipment and do-it-yourself efforts, Tacoma is finally receiving a new skatepark, thanks to the city’s voters.  

On Oct. 12 at the Tacoma Armory, the City of Tacoma announced that they will be building a skate park under I-705. The space will feature public art to create vibrancy within the community. The city chose to build a skate park as a result of a revolving budgeting process. 

The City does allow citizens within each district to propose and vote for ideas on where the budget goes.  

Tacoma’s Participatory Budgeting allocates $1,000,000 to districts within the city, followed by a public vote submitted by citizens within each district to propose ideas for what the money goes toward. Over 2,000 ideas were submitted by citizens of the district according to the city’s website, with the three most popular ideas turned into proposals for ballots.  

The Participatory Budgeting was voted on by District 2, which includes Downtown, Dome District, Stadium District, Northeast Tacoma and North Tacoma. Voting was open from July 11 until Sept. 20. 

The three proposals that citizens voted on were a covered skatepark featuring local art downtown under I-705, upgraded accommodations to the city’s emergency shelter site on Puyallup Avenue and funded youth programming for the community hub, Makerspace and teen area at Tacoma Public Library’s main site. The skatepark won the 2024 vote, but the other two proposals may be proposed again the next time the district votes on Participatory Budgeting. 

On Oct. 12, it was announced that the covered skatepark featuring local artwork won the public vote and construction would begin in 2025. District 2 Council Member Sarah Rumbaugh described the voting process as “heartwarming,” in a press release from the city, also noting that the skatepark will connect distinct parts of the district together. 

Despite the large size of the city, Tacoma has not had a city-funded skatepark that is large, well-maintained and free to the public, unlike Puyallup and Gig Harbor. Tacoma’s supposed skate parks like Kandle, Heidelberg and McKinkley are not as practical or skater-friendly as the city thought. Kandle Park features a bowl and a small ledge on different sides of the park, limiting what intermediate skaters are able to do. 

Heidelberg Park, in Tacoma, features a small halfpipe, a few quaterpipes and rails, however all the ramps were built in 1998. In the absence of regular maintenance, the asphalt in the park has become very prone to cracking, making it difficult and dangerous for skaters to maintain and gain speed while skateboarding. McKinley Skatepark, in Tacoma, features rails, stairs and ledges but everything is dangerously close and has aggressive angles that are impractical to skate safely, even for experts in the sport. 

Tacoma locals ultimately took the lack of a quality skatepark into their own hands, creating a skatepark underneath the 11th Street bridge called “11th Street DIY” in 2020. This was not the first creation done by the group, which consists of skaters and builders, as they also created “The Pit,” a small space to skate which was torn down due to the creators not owning the area it was built on. In a documentary filmed by AOD Films in 2023 detailing the construction of “11th Street DIY,” local skaters discuss their processes and motivations toward funding a space that would be at risk of removal. 

The creation of “11th Street DIY” gave visitors a completely free and covered skatepark. It was accessible throughout the rainy parts of the year and featured local music shows.  

There is an indoor skatepark in Tacoma called Alchemy Skateboarding that has low rates for walk-ins and private sessions, but the option for a completely free and covered skatepark with open hours is certainly a welcome addition to the Tacoma community. 

Despite the cold wet weather of Western Washington, there have been a number of prominent skateboarders from the area who have become well known in the skating community. 

Cory Kennedy is from Lake Stevens and was featured on the cover of Thrasher Magazine, one of the most prestigious accomplishments in the community. Mitchie Brusco is from Kirkland and was the first skateboarder in history to land a 1260, involving completing 1260 degrees of rotation midair. Kristin Ebeling is from Seattle and is the Executive Director of Skate Like A Girl, a nonprofit organization that focuses on teaching inclusion through skateboarding. 

Tacoma can now welcome visitors from across the Puget Sound area searching for a place to find community and practice their skills in space that will keep them out of the weather. This will allow skaters, especially young adults who previously lacked a safe place to go, to get exercise year-round.  

While it is unknown how long it will take for the skatepark’s construction to be completed, the announcement of the park is a victory for both skaters and the local community.