Major skate park planned for Bermuda

Major plans are underway for a skate and BMX park project that aims to champion youth culture and development. 

The Bermuda Urban Park Association has approval from Planning to build a permanent park that has the potential to host international skate and bike competitions and engage the youth on a level that is rarely seen here. 

The Urban Park would be situated on a 9,676 square foot space leased to the Association at just $1 per year by the Corporation of Hamilton.

The plaza-style park would feature steps, railings, slopes, pyramids and — the hottest attraction — a swimming pool style bowl set into the ground making it a serious contender on the international skate park scene.

The Association also hopes that the park will become a cultural hub that can be enjoyed by the whole of the community incorporating walkways, seating areas and entertainment. 

This Saturday, all are invited to an awareness and fundraising event held at number five car park (opposite Flanagan’s) featuring skating demonstrations and free access to ramps and rails and other equipment. Entertainment will be provided by  DJ Torrae, DJ BlazianKidd, DJ Missian, Nova, Haz and Quinn Outerbridge. 

Young people will be given the chance to sign up to volunteer and show support for Project 88 (named after the park’s proposed location at 88 Canal Road, near Bull’s Head Car Park, Hamilton city) and there will be sneak previews of the design plans for the park.

The Bermuda Urban Park Association was formed by Cullen O’Hara of Isolated Surfboards, Adrian Kawaley-Lathan who has extensive experience in youth and culture, and Darren Booth of The Booth store in Washington Mall.

Kawaley-Lathan told the Bermuda Sun: “The best feature is the swimming pool style bowl — a drop in feature which elevates the park up to international standards. 

“My vision is for this is for the park to be a venue where, you can have concerts, screen movies, host performing arts events etc... 

“There will be Wifi hotspots, an electricity supply and it will all be surrounded by grass and trees. 

“It is not just a space for youth development. It is also a public space that everyone can enjoy. You can eat lunch and watch the kids skate.

“We also want to develop an arts scene around it as well — visual arts, performance arts… 

“Everything will be youth oriented — youth DJs at peak hours, visual artists...”

Kawaley-Lathan said that it is essential to the project that young people are involved at every level of the project from generating ideas, volunteering, raising funds, raising awareness of the project and taking part in the cultural activities surrounding the park.

“It becomes a venue for everyone to take ownership,” he said. “I have several lists for opportunities for young people to sign up to on Saturday because we need help doing multiple different things in terms of not only raising awareness and funds but also in terms of having older, more experienced kids teaching the younger ones. 

“What they want to see happen we can make happen. We are a guiding hand.”

The Bermuda Urban Park Association aims to raise $300,000 for the entire project — $200,000 is needed to build the park and the rest would go towards getting the park recognized and attracting international BMX and skateboarders to teach workshops and helping to develop the skill base of all the young people. 

Asked whether he believed there was a demand for the park in Bermuda, Kawaley said: “I organized a skating/BMX event during Culture Fest in 2010 and around 500 kids came out for that. They were mainly young males of every race, ethnicity, background and there were a lot of young women there too. 

“For a population of this size it was a great turn out and that was just a one-day event too. We also have to keep in mind when Motocross season is over, all those boys BMX. 

“We want to find out how many more there are interested at the event on Saturday.”

Once the park is built, organizers say it will be “fiscally conservative requiring very little maintenance”.

Cullen O’Hara has been involved with designing and planning the infrastructure needed for the Urban Park.

He told us: “The caliber, if it goes to plan, is something that should never grow old and provided the integrity of the concrete lasts it should be a full functioning park forever. 

“We still need to talk to experts across the pond and get a proper foreman who has worked on skate parks before to make sure it’s done properly.

“Then it should be something that international skaters at the top level should be able to enjoy get creative with.”

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