The Washington-Jefferson Skate Park + Urban Plaza opened exactly one week ago and it’s been buzzing with activity ever since. We’ve heard of sessions starting as early as 6:00 a.m. and going well past midnight into the early hours of the morning. In the last seven days, a lot has gone down at the park. Here’s what we’ve learned about the WJ park in the past week.
1. If you build it, they will come.
We brainstormed some ideas about doing something for the “soft opening”. Like we already said on Facebook, there wasn’t anything soft about last week’s opening. We thought, “Yeah, let’s bring a couple decks to the opening and stoke the kids out who will be there…” Did we really think there would only be 50-100 kids? Some of us probably had zero expectations, so anything would have been good in our book. But thousands of skateboarders and spectators throughout the day? When the gates opened at 3:00 p.m., the exhilaration of years of planning and hard work flooded into the park. And it stayed like that all day.
2. If you want to skate street, hit the streets. This is a Dreamland park.
But seriously…? Not sure who made the decision on this one, but when space became an issue, the street section was the first to go. Shawn Kilmer nailed it with this Facebook comment: WJ skatepark – because sometimes one bowl just isn’t enough and you need like six. The only “plaza” thing about the park is that it’s an open public space. Oh yeah, Shawn also nailed it with this comment about the video: Pro tip – mute button located in lower left corner.
3. If you can’t get a hold of Tactics team rider Caleb Grant, go to the park…
Remember that 6:00 a.m. marathon session we mentioned earlier? Yeah, that was Peepgame. All day, every day.
4. Bikers don’t know the difference between metal and plastic.
Can you even read, bro? This from the WJ Skate Park + Urban Plaza Facebook page:
Here at the WJ we’ve got love for everyone! Skateboards, bikes with plastic pegs/pedals, roller blades and non-motorized scooters are all welcome. Cyclists have been involved since the beginning of the design process and helped come up with the solid plastic peg/pedal compromise. There’s room for all kinds of wheels here, just please leave those metal pegs at home.
It’s SO AWESOME to see bikes come crashing down and chip up the park. Please, do that. We LOOOOOVE to see the park destroyed. B-M-X. Bicycle motor cross. Go find some trails or something.
5. Most of the illicit activity is being done by the people NOT skating.
[Couldn’t find a picture. Just go to the park. See those lurkers lurking hard on the side pounding beers and huddling around a backpack? They’re not skating. See the dudes skating? They’re skating.]
6. The grand opening will be awesome. Join the Facebook event here.
Go Skateboarding Day 2014 will be an event you don’t want to miss. The City of Eugene is closing down part of Jefferson Street. It’s gonna be a madhouse block party. And we can’t wait.
7. The largest lit, covered park in the U.S. is worth the drive.
Opening day saw people from all over the Pacific Northwest make the trek down I-5 to skate the park. The Unheard dudes got an early-bird session in with the Dreamland crew. Sometimes it’s all about who you know. The K2 team decided to swing by one night on their way to Mt. Bachelor for their #RoadRage tour. Tune into TransworldSNOW for a full edit later this summer.
With many more events in the works, and plenty of teams already hitting us up to skate, you can bet the park will have no shortage of anything going on this summer. So grab a map, plan out your trip, and be sure to stop by the shop before skating the park. We’re just three blocks away.
What have you learned about the Washington-Jefferson Skate Park + Urban Plaza since it opened? Let us know with a comment below.
Happy skateboarding.