By Eamon Baird

[email protected]

TROY — Troy City Skatepark Unite (TCSU) will host its sixth annual “Keep Pushing” fundraiser from 1 to 4 p.m. at the Joe Reardon Skatepark located at 99 N. Ridge Ave. on Saturday, Sept. 21.

The fundraiser aims to continue the process of building a new concrete skate park at the site. Matt Williams, president of TCSU, spoke about this year’s event.

“While our primary focus is the skate park itself, we’re trying to build the best park for everyone,” Williams said.

Williams said Platform Design Group LLC, based in Florida, helped set up a public survey where people in the community could submit feedback on specific needs and requests for the design of the new park.

“Right now we’re going through that feedback and applying it to the final design, which we will then present again to the city and the community,” he said. “My hope is by the end of this year we will have the final design to send to the city.”

Three key issues TCSU is focusing on are mental health, physical health, and safety for the design of the new park.

“Typically, you can’t tie specific revenue to a community park,” Williams said. “So, we want to focus on mental and physical health and things you can’t put a price on.”

Williams added that fabricated metal ramps that currently occupy the skate park are potentially dangerous, and upgrading to concrete would be safer for skaters.

TCSU became a non-profit organization on July 20, 2023; since then, they have received the following grants or donations:

• $10,800 grant from Plant-a-Park for the conceptual design;

• $17,700 grant from the Troy Foundation for a Geo-tech survey and skate park construction documents;

• $5,000 celebrity donation from Rob Dyrdek.

“After we set up as a nonprofit, we joined the Troy City of Commerce, which allows us to network better with other community businesses,” he said.

The free event, sponsored by Ernst Concrete, will feature local vendors with live and silent auctions. Like in years past the event will feature a skate jam and the best trick contest but with a twist.

Skaters will compete in beginners, intermediate, and expert levels in 10-to-15-minute increments with a panel of judges watching them skate and attempt various tricks.

“You can look at the best trick in many different ways,” Williams said. “Like if some kid just barely lands a trick that he’s been trying all day and the whole crowd goes nuts, that should be celebrated.”

Williams hopes this year’s event can lead TCSU closer to its vision of creating a community skate park for Troy.

“In 2019 we recognized a need and the unseen potential impact that the Joe Reardon Skatepark could have on our community on a broad scale,” he said. “Since then, we have pushed for a goal to build a new and improved concrete skate park by way of creating awareness, fundraising efforts, educating, and engaging with the community. We want to encourage local residents and folks beyond to unite with us and realize this is a community-wide shared dream for what the Joe Reardon Skatepark could look like.”