Temp Ramp Update and Summer Fun-Raising
I know a lot of you are wondering about what’s going on with getting the temporary ramp built in the athletic field, so here’s an update: Ted Higgins of Acadia Construction will be digging holes for the posts, and we are just waiting to get the go-ahead from him that the ground is dry enough to take a digging machine onto the field without wrecking it. Dave LaValle and Jon Ho are the construction organizers, so they are heading up the team to build the ramp once the posts are set. We received a grant from Healthy Acadia to help buy the skatelite, and we’re putting up the rest from money we’ve brought in from donations so far, and EBS will be giving us a nice discount on materials. So – if the rain holds off and the ground dries up we can look forward to some early spring skating on a hot new ramp! If you want to help out, keep checking in here for the build day.
We also have an exciting big FUN-raiser planned for this summer: a Skateboard Deck Art Auction. We’ll be buying blank decks and giving them to local/regional artists to create ride-able (or not) art…..they’ll be on display for the month on July and silent auctioned at an event in August. A few other organizations have done this- you can check them out on-line at:
http://www.alldecksonhand.org and http://www.divisionstreetskatepark.org/art-show-auction-push.html
There are some pretty cool works of deck art on these sites !
We’re going to need a lot of support to pull this idea off, including artists willing to donate their time and creativity, people to help hang the show, support for advertising, good food, and carrying out all the little logistical details. The auction may also be available on-line, so we’ll need some good website folks who can help with taking photos and getting info into a database. We expect to have a wide variety of artists and media, so this should be a fun and interesting and, we hope, lucrative event that will also spread the word about our mission and vision. If you have time and energy to offer, please let us know. We are in search of gallery space for a one-evening event in August, if you know of a place that could display 50-100 skateboards, accommodate maybe 100 people, and serve beer/wine – basically host a gala event – email us at mdiskatepark@gmail.com.
A few other things to keep your eyes/ears open for the near future:
*NEW MDISA T shirt designs coming soon!
*SKATEPARK DESIGN WORKSHOP COMING THIS SPRING
*July 4 PARADE – come skate with us
Check back here for details!!!! We’ve got some good momentum going…….
Deborah
MDI Skatepark Association 
Hello,
I’m From MA (Boston Area) and will be at the MDIBL for the summer participating in a NSF research grant, as a skater I was pretty bummed that I might not have anywhere to skate over the summer, but was pleasantly surprised to find out what you guys have been doing! That being said, what kind of ramp are you guys building? I was assuming something like a 4-5 foot mini? Just wondering, and I look forward to shredding with you guys, and gals come June!
Later,
Kata
hey Kata, Great to hear from you! We’re building a 25 x 32 mini with a 5′ drop (approx). How did you find the blog? (I’m still learning about how to get us more traffic). Let us know when you get into town- we’re having a big FUN-raiser (and $$$$ raiser) auction this summer, and if you’re interested would love to have you be part of that. Look forward to meeting you!
The ramp sounds fun, we’ve got one around here about the same size, the skatelite has seen better days but it’s still a super fun size to skate.
I was checking ConcreteDisciples.com and unfortunately didn’t find much, but after throwing in “Bar Harbor Skatepark” into google I came across a newspaper article about you guys, and ultimately your blog. If you’re looking for more traffic, I’d suggest Concrete Disciples, I know that’s what I use to find skateparks in whatever given area I’ll be in.
I’m definitely down to help you guys out (and skate) any chance I get away from the lab! I’ll be up all of June and July, so give me a shout.
-Kata