It's Time! Del Rio Skate Garden Has It's Groundbreaking Ceremony!

It was a fresh but hot afternoon as City officials and representatives from the Del Rio Parks Foundation attended the long awaited groundbreaking ceremony for the future Del Rio Skate Garden, the first of it's kind according to Skate Ecosystems Chief Design Officer Shane Yee. "This will be the first skate garden to ever exist in the whole world." States Yee.

Peter Ojeda, the City of Del Rio's Director of Marketing & Communications, started the ceremony with, "Today, I know that this has been one of those pipe dreams for many people in the skate community, but also our council, who's been really just really making sure that we never lost focus on making sure that this project got done."

Renderings sent to us from Skate Eco Systems (Plantation Not Final Yet)

The new renderings provided to us by Skate Eco Systems show the result of feedback from the community when the survey was originally shared by Connect Del Rio and the City of Del rio on June 22, 2024. The renderings are also a result from local skaters and what they would like to see in their skate garden. Combined you get a skate garden tailored to both local skaters and the community's desires. "I'm very excited for everybody, not just Eddie, not just Chris, not just Kayron, everybody man. So this is, this is for the whole community and for the up-and-comers, so thank y'all." says Miguel Flores, one of the leads for the Del Rio Skate Park Committee.

Miguel Flores and Eddie Hernandez, both representing Del Rio Parks Foundation's Skate Park Committee, shared their thoughts on this momentous occasion and how emotionally unbelievable it was that they are this far in the process. We spoke with former Councilwoman, Alexandra Falcon-Calderon who had much to share, "I met with them many times, Blue Hole, areas of the San Felipe Creek that they would hang out and I spoke to them and I gave them hope, meaning to be engaged, come to the meetings when we have them. We spoke a lot about what they wanted and more so was the skate park. They gave their ideas, they gave their needs of why we should have one and as soon as I was already in council, that's something I brought into our city manager at that time. I'm now on the other side of, you know, being a community member but I am still focusing, I'm still looking at it, I'm still making sure that it's complete and so all this is for our children, our youth. So yes, I'm so excited and I appreciate the support of everybody. Nothing but progress today from the volleyball courts at the pop board to this skate park that has an anticipation date of completion at the end of October." Current Councilperson of District III, Randy Quinones, says "Excited for seeing progress almost instantly right with this build, bringing more life to this community and quality of life to this park. Keep an eye out and look out for many more great things that we're working on here in Del Rio and again just, you know, we got to keep things moving forward."

Carmen Gutierrez Councilperson At-Large Place A, shared with us "I got to thank the former city council members that actually made it possible, that approved the purchase. A lot of times, you know, those of us that are in city council get complaints like we don't see any progress. Well today you're seeing the progress. You're seeing your tax dollars at work and I hope that everyone will enjoy this, come out and reap all the benefits of what our beautiful Del Rio has to offer."

While a clear date couldn't be established as to when discussions about the future skate park began, many suggested talks began about 9-10 years ago back in 2014 or earlier. Chris Botello, a member of the Del Rio Skate Park Committee, says "It's been an ongoing thing since at least 2012ish. If I had access to my old email account i'd be able to pull up old emails between myself and the parks manager at the time." Botello also shared that they went through many phases years ago, from reaching out to a foundation but begin denied to making 3D models of the park they desired.

City officials, Del Rio Parks Foundation representatives, and more stood with shovels in their hands ready to break ground and lay dirt on the future Del Rio Skate Garden. The Skate Garden not only improving Del Rio's quality of life but finally providing a beautiful and safe location for local skaters to practice their sport. Located in San Felipe, this only adds to the beauty of the historical area.

When we spoke to Mayor Al Arreola he says, "You know, when I was growing up, I always admired those that got into those four wheels but I never had the pleasure of doing it. During my first year as mayor, I met with a lot of the kids in the community and they were like, okay, we've been left behind. We've been left behind. I know we're not playing football. I know we're not, you know, doing baseball. I know we're not doing this. And I said, but you guys are important, you know, and yours is a sport. We all got together on the particular site that we wanted to put this and we chose the creek, which really it has enhanced them for a lot of our, I do want to see one in the north side, but today we put it on the south side. It is going to be enjoyed not only by the little guys, but also the middle crisis and some of us that would love to adventure on this. So this is progress for the community of Del Rio. Everybody wants to kind of label us or compare us to Eagle Pass, but we got things that in Eagle Pass they don't have. We got things that somewhere around the San Antonio area, they do have in our progress, but we're pushing it to where it's going to be a sport and hopefully have some tournaments in our community and really bring this back into, this is a community thing."

The Del Rio Skate Garden is scheduled to be completed by October 31, 2024. The City of Del Rio and Skate Eco Systems plan to hold a ribbon cutting shortly after it's completion.