A group of young kids were the highest bidders to get the first skate at the Wynyard Skatepark on Wednesday morning. (Facebook/Wynyard Skatepark Project)

By Mat Barrett

Wynyard Skatepark

‘We had some very anxious kids’: Wynyard Skatepark officially opens to public

Jun 17, 2020 | 5:00 PM

It’s was an exciting day for the Town of Wynyard, even if it was in the rain.

The Wynyard Skatepark officially opened to the public on Wednesday, June 17 as a young group of kids took the first skate at the new park after they were the highest bidders as part of the fundraising effort for the park.

Wynyard’s Director of Leisure Services Sigourney Anderson said it’s exciting for the town.

“We had a lot of very anxious kids waiting to try out their scooters, and skateboards, and bikes, and rollerblades on that skatepark,” she said. “So they’ll be happy that it’s open too.”

At the time of the groundbreaking for the project in late May, there was some concern that the park would not be able to open immediately after being built. But, as skateparks were eligible to open on June 12 as part of the Re-Open Saskatchewan Plan, the Wynyard skatepark subsequently was complete and was ready to be opened.

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“We lucked out, if you can call it that, in that area,” Anderson said. “That we didn’t actually have to worry about finishing it, and then keeping kids off of it. As soon as it was done, we could open it to the public which is such a relief and good for the community.”

Now that the park is open, there are a few restrictions in place to follow COVID-19 safety guidelines. Only 10 people are allowed on the park at one time, and those who are on are asked to keep their two metres of distance apart.

The project was about a $200,000 project for the group that was behind it, and all of the money was fundraised for through various efforts. Anderson said it took about two years for the project to eventually come to fruition and now that it’s here, she hopes the community and the surrounding areas are able to enjoy it.

“I think we’re going to draw in from the surrounding communities here,” Anderson told northeastNOW. “It’ll be great for our community as well to people come in from other areas, spending money at our restaurants, gas stations, all that sort of thing.”

The project cost about $200,000 and was fully fundraised over about two years according to Anderson who praised the committee members who did the work to make the skatepark a reality.

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mat.barrett@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @matbarrett6