KOTA Cares: Push Forward looks to bring world-class skatepark to Rapid City

RAPID CITY, S.D. (KOTA) – When you think sports in Rapid City what pops into your head first? Football? Basketball? Hockey? For this week’s KOTA Cares. we look at the organization looking to bring the often-overlooked sport of skateboarding to the forefront with a new skatepark.

Push Forward, also known as the Rapid City Skatepark Association, is a group of local skaters looking to bring a world-class skatepark to Rapid City. With support from local government Push Forward has secured 1.8 acres in the center of town to build the park. Organizers say a new skatepark is essential and goes beyond just wanting new facilities.

“We’re a major population, the second biggest population in the state of South Dakota and there’s Townsend, Wyoming that has 3,000 people that have nicer skateparks than us. People ask the question ‘Well why hasn’t this happened?’ Well, it hasn’t happened because no one’s done it,” said Push Forward President Jakub Hladysz.

“The best friends I’ve ever made in life are skateboarders and everybody takes care of each other. So it’d be really nice to see a good skatepark here that we can see a lot of new friendships made through this awesome community,” said Push Forward Director of Public Relations Ross Tanner.

Friendship and community are what Push Forward is hoping the park will symbolize. But for police liaison officer Eric Dwyer, the skatepark is also about dismantling stereotypes.

“There’s been a long-standing historic division between police departments and skaters and as a police officer in Rapid City when you run into the kids who are disconnected there’s a phrase that comes up regularly is ‘We’re bored, there’s nothing to do.’ But boredom is the ingredient for crime many times and we want to tell our disconnected kids in Rapid City that you’re worth it, you’re valuable and we want to drop a multi-million dollar skatepark for you,” Dwyer said.

$2 million is needed to fund the construction of the park and Push Forward is looking to the community to invest in the wheel-loving youth.

“On the 20th we have our first annual Ride the City. It’s a community ride for skateboarders, bikers, scooters, rollerblades, anything on wheels. We just want to gather people together to raise awareness for the cause of this new skatepark,” Push Forward Vice President Derrick Unrein said.

For those interested in helping Push Forward reach its goal, you can attend Sunday’s Ride the City event or click here to donate.

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