It began as a dream: to renovate our hometown skatepark. That dream is becoming a reality thanks to our friends at Dreamland Skateparks, pro skater Kevin Kowalski and our latest brew, Dreamland Lager.
For the last 31 years, it has been our immense privilege to lift up our friends and neighbors by giving back wherever and whenever we could. But it was only a couple years ago that we learned of the dire state of the Newport Skatepark.
Skateparks build and sustain healthy communities. As a gathering place for dedicated, athletic youth, the skatepark provides the forum for visitors, young and old, beginning and skilled, to meet and share experiences. For many skateboarding youth, the skatepark becomes a home away from home.
The Tony Hawk Foundation
To give you a little background, the skatepark was first constructed in 2000 but the project ran out of money and it was never finished. Generous locals tried to complete the park by donating brick pavers for the perimeter but that made for a rough surface that just wasn’t ideal for skating. After the pavers went in, the park was neglected and fell into disrepair. But many still remembered it fondly, including our friend, Kevin.
In fact, it was Kevin who brought the park to our attention back in 2017 and put us in touch with Dreamland Skateparks, a team of skaters, architects and craftsmen who build skateparks around the world. From there, we made it our goal to restore and improve a place that was special to the skating community up and down the Oregon Coast. The Newport Skatepark Alliance was born.
For months, we put our heads together, planned and attended numerous meetings with the City of Newport. We even held a park clean up and fundraiser with the community on Go Skate Day in June of 2018. Then finally in November of that year, the City of Newport approved a budget to begin refurbishing the park.
That same month, Dreamland Skateparks got to work. They smoothed surfaces, cleared overgrowth and fixed drainage problems that had been there since the first construction and made the skatepark a big, wet, hazardous puddle in the rain. In case you didn’t know, it rains a lot on the Oregon Coast.
After the first phase was complete, we were excited to get started on next steps. We wanted to rip up the unfinished section (a 1,500 square foot area), pour fresh concrete and even add new features to the space. The local skating community even had a few incredible ideas on which features we could add. It was hard to be patient but we had to fund the second phase before we could get started.
So how do you fund a good cause like this? Beer’s always a good place to start. We worked with Dreamland Skateparks to design a beer that would be perfect for skaters. We came up with Dreamland Lager, an American lager that is simple, refreshing, crisp but also delicious. We decided that a portion of the proceeds from this beer, which will be available nationwide on tap and in cans, will fund the Newport Skatepark. And once we’ve funded our hometown park, we’ll help fund skateparks in communities all over the world.
All the pieces came together and on October 28, Dreamland Skateparks broke ground on phase two and began ripping up the unfinished section of the park. Once that’s done, they’ll be adding a slew of new street and transition features, finally providing our community, both those new to skating and those who have been skating for years, with a safe and productive place to gather and practice their skating skills.
And this is just the beginning. We can’t wait to make even more dreams become reality around the world with Dreamland Skateparks.
