Park dug up after 30 years

[GardenSkater77]

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More intel, via a link in a 14-year-old post on a BMX messageboard:

"The town of Farmington, Maine, took three years to build its park, valued at about $35,000. It was the pet project of Steve Shible the city's recreation director, who was so proud of the park that he printed up hats with its name, The Dragon's Nest. But vandalism and lack of use closed it within two years. Now it's a children's park, a slab for toddlers on tricycles.

'The kids that provided the original impetus, by the time this thing opened most of those kids had changed from skateboarding to cars and girls and everything else,' Shible said. 'It's pretty hard to make out on a skateboard.'"

Even as a street skater, I have to disagree with the recent posts claiming that it's a waste of space or concrete. There are more than enough tightly-designed parks stuffed with stock "street" obstacles and bowls, or even parks/"skate plazas"/DIY spots with more creative terrain. A wide open, chill "'90s does '70s" park with a bizarre provenance is genuinely really cool.

[close]

cool idea i guess but dude that thing is barely skateable. It doesn’t even have a hip or anything and looks lumpy as hell

It just needs a few parking blocks.

Shit parks are more fun for shit skaters like yours truly.

[ndsr]

I think it’s a perfect base for a great diy

[jorge]

I sorta feel sad for for any skaters who couldn’t have fun at this spot.  A chill session here with a couple of friends would be incredible.

[ndsr]

Jorge well spoken

[Sick Duck]

I sorta feel sad for for any skaters who couldn’t have fun at this spot.  A chill session here with a couple of friends would be incredible.

i mean i could have fun dorking around on it but when i first saw this thinking it was one of the original skateparks i thought this was pretty amazing but now it doesn’t seem nearly as cool

[Christmas Complete]

More intel, via a link in a 14-year-old post on a BMX messageboard:

"The town of Farmington, Maine, took three years to build its park, valued at about $35,000. It was the pet project of Steve Shible the city's recreation director, who was so proud of the park that he printed up hats with its name, The Dragon's Nest. But vandalism and lack of use closed it within two years. Now it's a children's park, a slab for toddlers on tricycles.

'The kids that provided the original impetus, by the time this thing opened most of those kids had changed from skateboarding to cars and girls and everything else,' Shible said. 'It's pretty hard to make out on a skateboard.'"

Even as a street skater, I have to disagree with the recent posts claiming that it's a waste of space or concrete. There are more than enough tightly-designed parks stuffed with stock "street" obstacles and bowls, or even parks/"skate plazas"/DIY spots with more creative terrain. A wide open, chill "'90s does '70s" park with a bizarre provenance is genuinely really cool.

'It's pretty hard to make out on a skateboard.'- Steve Shible

Park looks like a good time now, but I can't lie, if this was my local in '91 I would've been bummed. Kudos to the dudes who dug this out.

[diogenesofkokomo]

Expand Quote

More intel, via a link in a 14-year-old post on a BMX messageboard:

"The town of Farmington, Maine, took three years to build its park, valued at about $35,000. It was the pet project of Steve Shible the city's recreation director, who was so proud of the park that he printed up hats with its name, The Dragon's Nest. But vandalism and lack of use closed it within two years. Now it's a children's park, a slab for toddlers on tricycles.

'The kids that provided the original impetus, by the time this thing opened most of those kids had changed from skateboarding to cars and girls and everything else,' Shible said. 'It's pretty hard to make out on a skateboard.'"

Even as a street skater, I have to disagree with the recent posts claiming that it's a waste of space or concrete. There are more than enough tightly-designed parks stuffed with stock "street" obstacles and bowls, or even parks/"skate plazas"/DIY spots with more creative terrain. A wide open, chill "'90s does '70s" park with a bizarre provenance is genuinely really cool.

[close]

'It's pretty hard to make out on a skateboard.'- Steve Shible

Park looks like a good time now, but I can't lie, if this was my local in '91 I would've been bummed. Kudos to the dudes who dug this out.

I thought the exact same thing. It's almost fitting that this got buried and forgotten about until we were living in a post-DIY skatepark world. Like a bunch of people mentioned, this place is a few parking blocks or curbs away from being a really mellow but rad spot to skate.

[Nosferatu]

[Seventyfrigginseven]

Ha! Where the heck did you find that? It sure looks better now!

[The real veganshawn]

Looks like a good time

[cucktard]

'It's pretty hard to make out on a skateboard.'

Fuck, this dude gets it

[fur lined sea]

Expand Quote

Expand Quote

More intel, via a link in a 14-year-old post on a BMX messageboard:

"The town of Farmington, Maine, took three years to build its park, valued at about $35,000. It was the pet project of Steve Shible the city's recreation director, who was so proud of the park that he printed up hats with its name, The Dragon's Nest. But vandalism and lack of use closed it within two years. Now it's a children's park, a slab for toddlers on tricycles.

'The kids that provided the original impetus, by the time this thing opened most of those kids had changed from skateboarding to cars and girls and everything else,' Shible said. 'It's pretty hard to make out on a skateboard.'"

Even as a street skater, I have to disagree with the recent posts claiming that it's a waste of space or concrete. There are more than enough tightly-designed parks stuffed with stock "street" obstacles and bowls, or even parks/"skate plazas"/DIY spots with more creative terrain. A wide open, chill "'90s does '70s" park with a bizarre provenance is genuinely really cool.

[close]

cool idea i guess but dude that thing is barely skateable. It doesn’t even have a hip or anything and looks lumpy as hell

[close]

Don't make me head back there right now with my trowels (that appear to be the first ones ever made), the few bags of mix i have left, and a 6 pack.. if I do you might be on the first flight to Maine to come skate this godforsaken thing with me. And we will have fucking fun...lumps and all.

A quest for fun: Slap pal meet up in Farmington, Maine.

[Owen]

Whilst we are planning Slap skatepark quests, who is coming to Malaysia to help me dog this out?

http://www.skateboard.com.au/skateparks/malaysia/lost-park/

[C.J. Gap]

Whilst we are planning Slap skatepark quests, who is coming to Malaysia to help me dog this out?

http://www.skateboard.com.au/skateparks/malaysia/lost-park/

This guy

[SneakySecrets]

Love these spoiled fuckers poo-pooing that park.  Not everyone has access to the boom boom huck jam course or whatever lavish spots you all skate.

[Dracula]

This was the premise of tony hawks American wasteland

[Glurmpz]

Love these spoiled fuckers poo-pooing that park.  Not everyone has access to the boom boom huck jam course or whatever lavish spots you all skate.

I think it's rad they dug it up! I hope my comment about how the original park probably came to be wasn't misconstrued.

Now, although I think it's rad they resurrected it and it looks like it could be fun with a few minor DIY additions, getting that park in 1991 in the first place was unfortunate. Yes, as skaters I'd hope we can all have fun on pretty much any surface that's rollable, including the all too common small town/suburb screwed up skatepark. But shaming people for pointing out that they're actually bad designs isn't really justified. Of course they're bad parks, there's endless amounts of them all over the world that get built when the proper people aren't involved in the process. Sometimes they end up having a couple things that are really fun despite not being great for what they were originally intended for. Like this park. I'm sure you could have some fun blasting out of it for a bit. The thing is, for the same money, with the right communication, the skaters in that area could have had a proper skatepark instead of one that got neglected because the design sucked. We shouldn't aspire for fucked up skateparks to be acceptable. In most cases, getting a skatepark takes years and years of work and it's the only one you're getting. It's always a travesty when some town gets a bungled up design when there information is out there to do it right.

But yeah - a couple curbs, extensions, and maybe some ledges and that old park would be fun for a bit.

[matty_c]

The youtubers got to it already, Owen
There’s one near Pattaya too

[Sick Duck]

Love these spoiled fuckers poo-pooing that park.  Not everyone has access to the boom boom huck jam course or whatever lavish spots you all skate.

are u really saying that u don’t have a better park than that near you? Or a mini ramp or anything. Let’s be real that thing is a certified piece of suck. Yeah u could have some fun with it and it’s better than nothing but cmon now

[SneakySecrets]

I think it's rad they dug it up! I hope my comment about how the original park probably came to be wasn't misconstrued.

Now, although I think it's rad they resurrected it and it looks like it could be fun with a few minor DIY additions, getting that park in 1991 in the first place was unfortunate. Yes, as skaters I'd hope we can all have fun on pretty much any surface that's rollable, including the all too common small town/suburb screwed up skatepark. But shaming people for pointing out that they're actually bad designs isn't really justified. Of course they're bad parks, there's endless amounts of them all over the world that get built when the proper people aren't involved in the process. Sometimes they end up having a couple things that are really fun despite not being great for what they were originally intended for. Like this park. I'm sure you could have some fun blasting out of it for a bit. The thing is, for the same money, with the right communication, the skaters in that area could have had a proper skatepark instead of one that got neglected because the design sucked. We shouldn't aspire for fucked up skateparks to be acceptable. In most cases, getting a skatepark takes years and years of work and it's the only one you're getting. It's always a travesty when some town gets a bungled up design when there information is out there to do it right.

But yeah - a couple curbs, extensions, and maybe some ledges and that old park would be fun for a bit.

are u really saying that u don’t have a better park than that near you? Or a mini ramp or anything. Let’s be real that thing is a certified piece of suck. Yeah u could have some fun with it and it’s better than nothing but cmon now

Sorry ya’ll, I was like 95% just fucking around with that comment, haha.

Although there is a little kernel of truth in there:  I’m so starved for good spots that I would be genuinely excited to skate it as-is.  But yeah, I can see how a featureless slight depression in the ground might not be the most exciting spot in the world. 

If they made a little ledge on top of one of those banks, I could probably skate it all day without getting bored.

[backinaction]

I grew up in Livermore- 30 minutes away-  and was skating in 91. I remember when the park opened. Lots of media and hype - but it never got much use because it sucked, even in ‘91 when there were no other parks around. I seem to recall they had it locked up most of the time and it was only open very limited hours. This was pre-internet so we never knew the hours. And once the park went in, they cracked down on street skating in town.

I recall skating it once (on our third or fourth time showing up) for about 15 minutes, and leaving because it sucked. We went downtown and were harassed by the cops, and that was the end of Farmington for us.

We skated street elsewhere,   our own DIY spot, backyard ramps and drove to Biddeford to skate Ratz instead.  There were also some metal full pipes in a field on the way out to Weld that were janky as hell, but still better than this park.

[Seventyfrigginseven]

Expand Quote

Expand Quote

Expand Quote

More intel, via a link in a 14-year-old post on a BMX messageboard:

"The town of Farmington, Maine, took three years to build its park, valued at about $35,000. It was the pet project of Steve Shible the city's recreation director, who was so proud of the park that he printed up hats with its name, The Dragon's Nest. But vandalism and lack of use closed it within two years. Now it's a children's park, a slab for toddlers on tricycles.

'The kids that provided the original impetus, by the time this thing opened most of those kids had changed from skateboarding to cars and girls and everything else,' Shible said. 'It's pretty hard to make out on a skateboard.'"

Even as a street skater, I have to disagree with the recent posts claiming that it's a waste of space or concrete. There are more than enough tightly-designed parks stuffed with stock "street" obstacles and bowls, or even parks/"skate plazas"/DIY spots with more creative terrain. A wide open, chill "'90s does '70s" park with a bizarre provenance is genuinely really cool.

[close]

cool idea i guess but dude that thing is barely skateable. It doesn’t even have a hip or anything and looks lumpy as hell

[close]

Don't make me head back there right now with my trowels (that appear to be the first ones ever made), the few bags of mix i have left, and a 6 pack.. if I do you might be on the first flight to Maine to come skate this godforsaken thing with me. And we will have fucking fun...lumps and all.

[close]

A quest for fun: Slap pal meet up in Farmington, Maine.

Haha! Hell yeah and if any pals haven't seen a Marty the moose, theres plenty of swamp donkeys up here too! This phenomenal skatepark and moose viewing? Fuck this needs to happen.