A Look Back: Ladysmith's Skate Park

Editor's Note: Back on August 15, 2007, I was in Ladysmith, Wisconsin. Because Ironwood was considering a skate park at the time, I made a point of visiting other parks to see how other people handled things. I posted this report in the old "About_Ironwood" group. The young man I interviewed was instrumental in building the park and was, on the day I talked with him, going to address the Ladysmith City Council regarding the construction of a newer, bigger, and better facility. The Chronicle will be periodically reprinting profiles of other skate parks throughout Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Michigan.

Today I was in Ladysmith, Wisconsin. They have a skatepark that was built about 9 years ago. The City donated the land, and the local kids designed the park; sought funding for the park; and built it entirely by themselves. Through local donations, they were able to raise enough money to build the park, and the local skateboarders did the work.

While I was out taking pictures of their park, I was fortunate enough to meet Matt Zona. Matt is the chairman of the Ladysmith Skateboard Park Committee. He's an avid skateboarder. I asked him some questions about the park and he was gracious enough to share his knowledge with me. I recorded our conversation, but at times the wind picked up severely, and the audio wasn't the best. When his answers to my questions were clearly audible, I included his actual words in this post.

When I started to ask Matt some questions about their park, he told me that a meeting was scheduled tonight at 5:00 at the Ladysmith City Hall to discuss construction of a new park.

Then I asked him, "What changes would be made if a new park were approved?" He said, [CLICK HERE].

When I asked Matt, "Who designed this skatepark?" He replied [CLICK HERE].

"How many people use this park now?" [CLICK HERE]. He told me that vandalism was a major problem. He said they have lights for the park, and before they all burned out, there was very little damage to the facility. He  said much of the vandalism has been from "people from the bars" that don't like skateboards. He said most of the kids that use the park respect it, and those that helped build it make sure it doesn't get abused.

When I asked him who maintains the park and how much maintenance it required, he responded with [CLICK HERE].

Ladysmith has a population of just under 4,000. It's a bustling community what a lot to offer its residents. Their downtown is thriving! They have done many things to make that happen. The skatepark, for the most part, appears to be doing quite well. To keep up on the progress of Ladysmith's "New" Skatepark, log onto the Ladysmith News website.

Jim Albert