A member of the Antigonish Skate Park Association says he’s pleased with plans for a skate park in the area.
The announcement was made Friday; it’s a partnership between officials with the Town and County of Antigonish, StFX and the Antigonish Skate Park Association.
Matthew Schumacher, the association’s fundraising chair, says their members are ecstatic.
After the announcement, Schumacher said they’re very thankful it’s going forward, because it’s been in the works for more than 30 years, and is badly needed.
“It is super needed in this area- all progressive communities in general have skate parks now,” he says. “They are (as) vital to the community as a traditional slide-and-swing playground- it’s just the way that the youth socially interact.”
Schumacher says the skate park will be another resource available in the area.
Laurie Boucher, the mayor of Antigonish, says the location of the park was made possible through the partnerships and trust they’ve built with their counterparts at both StFX and Antigonish Co.
Boucher said StFX officials will lease the land on West St. next to the former municipal building for the park.
“We approached StFX and said ‘Would you be interested in working with us?'” she said. “We saw this piece of land and asked if they’d let us lease it and they said ‘Sure’- they looked at it as an enhancement of the community, and for the StFX community as well.”
Boucher said the lease agreement for the park is the standard minimum 19 years.
