‘The best skate park in the Kansas City area’? Lenexa event to show space off
Whether you spend every weekend barreling down ramps or just like to watch some kickflips, Lenexa’s Skate Jam is meant for any skateboarding enthusiast.
The city hopes to make the Saturday, Sept. 20, event at Rolling Magic Skate Park an annual one.
It’s a rescheduled debut, after rain canceled it last year. This time, if it’s raining without lightning, some of the festivities will still go ahead.
Ashley Nguyen, recreation supervisor at the city of Lenexa, hopes to attract a variety of people to the free event.
“It’s an all-ages event, so families, hopefully whole families” will attend, she said.
In addition to having the skate park open for anyone to use, there will be food trucks and a DJ.
The Lenexa Historical Society is giving away helmets in a variety of sizes on a first-come first-serve basis. Nguyen estimated they’d have about 15 to hand out.
It’s been two years since the city unveiled the rebuilt skate park, and it’s proven to be a popular one, according to Dan Mapes, who teaches youth skateboarding classes there.
“At Lenexa, we’ve seen a constant crowd there. What I’m seeing from that is there’s a lot of skateboarders in the local community,” Mapes said. “… I feel like it’s the best skate park in the Kansas City area.”
Mapes said he thinks Lenexa has been very active in staging events at its skate park.
“At other cities, it’s kind of like pulling teeth to try to put an event together — not saying the city resists, but you have to really have your ducks in a row and get really organized if you want to put an event on. Whereas Lenexa is putting on their own event and attracting people to come,” Mapes said.
He’s enthusiastic about introducing more people to the skate park.
“Skateboarding is sort of an individual sport, but when you get to the skate park and you’re skating with other people, it’s a pretty good community. Skateboarders will give you respect if you give them respect, as long as you know basics of etiquette,” he said.
The biggest rules of using the park are to wait your turn and pay attention before launching down a ramp.
Although you might have a picture in your head of an average skateboarder, you’ll find a more varied population than that at Rolling Magic.
“It’s a very diverse group. I think most people think of it as an all-guy thing, but I’ve found doing my class that a lot of young girls are also getting interested in it,” Mapes said.
Mapes will teach another set of beginner skateboard classes at Rolling Magic in November, and he also teaches at parks in Prairie Village, Shawnee and Lee’s Summit.
The latest addition to the park is a set of lights to make it safer for people to use it into the evening. Nguyen said that if everything stays on schedule, those will be in place before Skate Jam.
“Even you’re not a skateboarder, come out and watch and be a part of it and see what the culture is. For skateboarders, I’d like to see kids from all around the community, from other areas come and skate together and have a great time,” Mapes said.
Skate Jam will be from 4 to 6 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 20, at Sar-Ko-Par Trails Park’s Rolling Magic Skate Park. In case of bad weather, the city will post any delays or cancellations on its website or on its notification phone line, (913) 477-7170.
