Stratford moving ahead with new skate park

Skateboard enthusiasts will be carving and kickflipping inStratford this summer, as the town movesahead with the construction of askatepark.

The plan is to set it upat the base of the entrance to thetown hall on Shakespeare Drive, beside a parking lot.

Stratford hascommitted $150,000towards the projectand there is hope thatamount can be doubledthrough private and corporate donations.

This isn't the first time Stratford has considered establishing a skatepark.DavidDunphymayor of Stratford, saidagroup ofyoung peopleapproached the townseveral years ago withthe hope of seeingone constructed.

"We've had many consultations with our young people over the last threeto fouryears," said Dunphy.

New LineSkateparksInc. of Torontohas been contractedto do the work and there will be a public meetingonApril14to gather feedbackand design ideas.

'We do have some ideas," said Dunphy. "But what we want to do is show them some different options and then get some feedback and ensure that what's built is what the young people in Stratford want, because there's no point in building it unless it contains what they want," he said.

Josh Langille, 20,has been a skateboarderfor about fiveyears, and although helives in Charlottetown, he says heplans to useStratford'snewpark once it opens.

"I think it's a great thing, definitely overdue in my opinion, because the kids of Stratford don't really have anything, like, extracurricular for them to do, " andbeing outside, "and using your athleticism in that manner is really healthy, I think."