Lauridsen Skate Park Grand Opening!

5/7/21

An opportunity to attend a milestone watershed moment is a rare occurrence in Iowa. With the current red state administration trying desperately to stop the momentum of change and upward social mobility, turning the state into a drab and lame neo-jim crow-era relic, on a cool clear sunny day in May, a new dawn of cool emerged.

The Lauridsen Skatepark had its Grand Opening and Ribbon-Cutting ceremony among a few hundred lucky people on hand to witness the culmination of a 20-plus year journey from idea to reality.

Entering through the gates my excitement was kicking in. I remembered my own youth; skating through the meager streets of downtown and the east side. If only we had this when my friends and I were growing up! Though I have stopped skating due to my size disadvantage for pain resilience when concrete is my foe; my brother has taken the helm of The Skateboarder. His journey has given him the skills and encyclopedic knowledge to have kept me in the loop since. It was reinvigorating after the pandemic to see him and all the skate homies from all corners of the state and beyond take this park as their own.

The park is THE gnarliest I have seen. Des Moines can now say it has the largest skatepark in the nation. It's like three or four parks rolled into one.

The Dew Tour is starting on the 20th! Some Dew Tour kids were there on Grand Opening day to break in the full-sized pool. Those girls were ripping up that thing, giving the other skaters and large spectator crowd a taste of what's to come

The Dew Tour starts setting up on Monday May 10th. From my understanding at the time of this writing, the park will be closed to the public until the festivities begin on the 20th. So if y'all wanna get close up and smell the fresh paint before the sweat and blood seeps into this new hallowed ground, come get it. Till then, we'll see ya at the Dew Tour!...In Des Moines, Iowa. Really? WTF?! Is this real?

Dew Tour Official: https://www.dewtour.com/stories/summer-dew-tour-des-moines-iowa-may-2021/#:~:text=Dew%20Tour%20is%20excited%20to%20announce%20a%20new,the%20event%20is%20also%20an%20Olympic%20skateboard%20qualifier.

Lauridsen Skate Park: https://www.facebook.com/dsmskatepark

Subsect Skateshop FB: https://www.facebook.com/Subsect-Skateshop-107259117842979