By: Alexandra Sarimsakci for The Dirt
After more than 30 years of kickflips and ollies, Community Park Skate Park is getting a huge overhaul. Davis skateboarders hope the makeover will infuse new energy into Davis’s sleepy skating scene.
The Skate Park has been used by generations of skaters growing up in or passing through Davis. Most of whom will attest to its inadequacy.
“It was always kind of bad,” Jake Starnes, owner of Vault Board Shop, told The Dirt. “Growing up, we’d go on campus and skate UCD or skate around town, but we always wanted a new skate park.” As the owner of the only skate shop in town, he’s excited about the boost the skating community would get from the park’s renovation.
When the park was originally built, skateboarding was in its infancy, just starting to spread beyond the regions of Southern California where it was first popularized. Knowledge of what made a good park was scant, resulting in a design that didn’t accommodate the needs of skaters. “It’s challenging to get a flow, and there aren’t really features that connect,” Starnes said.
“The way it’s poured makes it dangerous, the bowl is dangerous, the trees drop their leaves, and you have to clean it up with a broom to skate there,” Davis skateboarder Luke Turner said, “It’s just not that fun, and more effort than it’s worth.”
In 2023, Davis Parks and Community Services realized that an overhaul would serve not only the skating community but the City of Davis more broadly.
“[We] identified a need for additional recreational activities/spaces for… teens and early twenty somethings,” Melody Eldridge, Senior Civil Engineer and project manager, told The Dirt. The skate park, presently underutilized, seemed like a perfect way to fill that gap.
Skateboarding has increased steadily in popularity since the 90s, and with its recent addition to the Olympic roster, that trend is likely to continue. A good skate park would accommodate that growing demand and, Starnes believes, could even become a pull factor for prospective UC Davis students.
Makes sense when you look at who’s winning those new Olympic Medals. At the Paris Olympics, the bronze medal for skateboarding went to Nyjah Huston. He grew up in Davis, graduated from Davis Senior High.
“That’s really where it started for me,” Huston said after his win in Paris. “That little Davis not-so-good skate park.”
The City started the process by sending a public invitation to skatepark-specific design-build firms. Three companies responded. Their proposals were reviewed based on a range of criteria, including skatepark design philosophy and experience designing and building similar projects. Ultimately, Grindline Skateparks was selected.
“The skate park can’t get messed up because Grindline doesn’t build bad skateparks,” Turner said, “they’re skater-run, and really well respected.”
Grindline completed their first community outreach event last month. Sixty skaters of all ages had the opportunity to offer input on what they’d want out of a new park.
“We have received lots of requests for bowls, mini ramps, and improved flow in general,” Eldridge said. If the $1.1 million budget allows, Eldridge said the City also hopes to install improved lighting so skaters can ‘beat the heat’ during the spring and summer months. Conceptual designs will be drawn up with community input in mind, and another meeting, tentatively scheduled for July, will give people a chance to review and comment before anything is finalized.
“After that, Grindline prepares construction drawings. We hope to begin demolition this fall and have the new skatepark open in Summer 2026,” Eldridge said.
Turner has high hopes for what the new skate park will mean for skaters in Davis. He hopes that the skate park will act as a hub, bringing skaters of all skill levels, from all over the place, together.
“I think it’s gonna be a really popular spot. It’ll bring a lot more skate energy to Davis,” he said. “It’s a little sleepy right now.”
Starnes agrees.
“If I see someone do a kickflip, we both know how long it took to get that trick,” he told The Dirt. “Skateboarding gives you a shared language to connect with anyone, anywhere. It teaches grit, determination, and acceptance.”
