committed to building a free public skatepark in bar harbor, maine
Posts tagged skatepark
Winter Update
Over the winter the site work done by Harold MacQuinn Construction, which laid down the fill and topped it off for maximum marine clay settling, has been doing its job. Katie Churchill has been communicating with our housing donor and with Pillar Designs as we gear up for construction to begin late Spring, early Summer! For more information please call us at (207) 664-3016.
The mound behind the sign as we await the settling of marine clay
Update of Activity
Since our last Post, much has been happening:
~ Chris Schwartz and Michael Boland helped us raise funds at the Cafe Choco-Latte “Skate Deck Art Show”. Thanks also to Katie Churchill!
~ We had another successful Fourth of July appearance in the parade and booth at the ball field. Thanks to all who helped! We sold cotton candy, iced tea and iced coffee.
~ A brick campaign was put together with Polar Engraving Co. and is underway for people to choose a brick for the walkway to the entrance to the new skatepark. Click here to order yourS: http://polarengraving.com/MDISkateparkAssociation
~ Our update to the Town of Bar Harbor Town Council was received well and MOU extended:
MDI Skatepark Association met with the Bar Harbor Town Council on July 7 to report on the progress of the skatepark site work and Phase 1 construction. Katie Churchill has been heading up the communication between Pillar Designs in Arizona, S. W. Cole Engineers in Bangor, and Tim Whitney of MacQuinn’s Construction over the last several months. At recent Board meetings we have received each new report during this phase of discovery and made the commitment to take the time to build the skatepark right, following the professional advice we are presented with.
The site had to be tested again once the ground dried out (this was expected) and before it was excavated and backfilled (this summer). Once the results were studied, it was determined by the engineers that because of the marine clay under the field, the site will have to settle for a period of time so that it will be in the best shape to hold the concrete park without future cracking or settling.
The Town Council received our report favorably and immediately made a motion, which passed unanimously, to extend the Memorandum of Understanding (of November 15, 2016) for another year to allow for the possible 8 month settling period.
We are excited that things are moving along well and the project has great grass roots as well as Town Council support.
This work is led by a hard working volunteer board of directors who have full time jobs, families, and many other responsibilities, but believe in this project, have brought it to this point, and are committed to seeing it through.
We welcome you to our meetings–they are a great way to stay informed! Many thanks to all who are supporting this worthy endeavor!!
Town Council and MDI Skatepark agree to Move Temporary Ramp
Well, the meeting with the Bar Harbor Town Council on October 21 covered more ground than expected. Besides giving a thorough update of fundraising progress, general activities and reports regarding the temporary ramp repairs needed–Karen Svenson, our Board Chair (and Katie Churchill) also responded to many questions about the upcoming renewal of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Town of Bar Harbor. MDISA had scheduled to discuss this at the November 17 Town Council meeting. The current MOU expires November 15, but was extended to November 17.
Karen put up a good fight to keep the temporary ramp up for youth to continue using until just before we break ground, but it became evident that wisdom dictated being open to removing it. Paul Paradis asserted that the current MOU states that we agreed to remove the ramp by November 15 (in preparation for breaking ground this fall), a motion ensued to remove the ramp and it passed.
Because $43,832.75 in cash is now in hand, with pledges to be fulfilled totaling $21,425, the amount that can go towards construction is $65,257.75. This means we are getting very close to Phase I to begin (once negotiations with Pillar Designs are finalized and additional funds are raised with the fall campaign).
Therefore–as we remove the ramp, we ask everyone to celebrate the event We give thanks to Dave Lavalle and Jon Ho and their team who built it and Deborah Page for the fundraising impetus that helped raise the $8,000 for materials. It provided youth and adults alike with a place to skate, scooter, BMX bike and roller blade for a number of years as we progressed toward our goal.
The “Ramp Deconstruction Party” will be Sunday, November 1 from 1 – 5 pm! Here is our poster for the event!
The Town of Bar Harbor is our New Fiscal Sponsor!!
We are super happy to announce that the Town of Bar Harbor Town Council voted unanimously to become our Fiscal Sponsor. We wish to thank Acadia Community Association for their many years of support!
If you wish to donate to the MDI Skatepark Project, send your check to The Town of Bar Harbor, Attn. Stan Harmon, 93 Cottage St. Bar Harbor, Maine 04609 The check must be written out to the Town of Bar Harbor with “MDI Skatepark Association” written clearly in the Memo Line.
The Town of Bar Harbor, Maine
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:??
www.alldecksonhand.org and 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
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