our partners
Pathways for Keene
Our fiscal agent, Pathways for Keene, Inc. (“PFK”) is a non-profit, 501 C(3), group of volunteers promoting the development, maintenance, enhancement of active transportation in the City of Keene, N.H. Provides guidance and oversees our financials/bank account.
City of Keene
Skatepark is located on city land. The city oversees the maintenance. Keene Skatepark is working in partnership with Andy Bohannon; Park, Recreation and Facilities Director. Costs for marketing materials has been paid by Park and Recreation. We are asking for the city to direct $25,000 to this project. Hearings for the city budget are in March.
Monadnock Economic Development
Monadnock Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) puts together people, projects, planning, and financing to foster community and business development in southwestern New Hampshire.They are working to develop the empty lot located adjacent to the current skatepark. The skatepark is included in their plans which includes a pavilion for music and the Farmers Market and a public restroom.
Keene State College
We have a letter of support from Melinda Treadwell, President. Dr. Brian Quigley, Phd Director of the Keene State Counseling Center, avid skateboarder and skatepark committee member, is joining Advocates for Healthy Youth(AFHY); a coalition of concerned individuals and organizations dedicated to improving the health of children in the Monadnock Region.
Healthy Monadnock
HM is a community engagement initiative designed to foster and sustain a positive culture of health throughout Cheshire County and the Monadnock Region. AFHY is part of this initiative. We have partnered with Sarah Pelkey who will be assisting us in getting information about Keene Skatepark out to the area schools. We have a letter of support from them. They have awarded us $1000 for our project.
Friends of Public Art
We are working with this organization to create and fund through grants, a donor wall and skateable art features for the park.
Keene Housing Kids Collaborative
Their mission is to “building the foundation for successful adulthood.” We are working with the director, Liz Chapman, to write grants for funding the purchase of skateboards, helmets and knee pads for underprivileged youth.
skatepark experiences
Skateboarding makes everything better! It has kept me young and fit, stoked on life, and connected with so many amazing people all over the country. I’ve been dreaming of a concrete skate park in Keene since 1985. I’ve had to travel a lot of miles to Skate over the years. To have a Progressive up-to-date skate park in Keene would be a dream come true.”
Bright Krinsky, Keene NH Gnarwhal Rider
bright Krinsky
Keene, NH
I am at the Keene Skatepark almost everyday even in the winter, I go and clear the half-pipe of snow. It has changed my life. I used to be inactive and now I bike for hours a day. I want to be a sponsored semi-pro BMX rider and I need a better park to practice in.
Sean Zimmerman
Keene, NH
I’m now 33 yrs old and I am skateboarding as much as ever and skateboarding has basically saved my life. There is a huge number of skateboarders in the area that are older (from previous generations such as myself) that would appreciate a smoother and more user friendly place to skate. I have recently been brought on by the City of Keene to help make our existing park a little more up to date and I am thrilled to be a part of it, seeing how it is in very rough shape.
Alan Parenteau
Keene, NH
The BMX sk8 scene has always been a major staple in my life. At 38 I still love to ride. It just takes longer to get up when you crash, lol. The connections you make with other riders/sk8rs, of any age, is unmatchable. It teaches you some key elements in life. You only get out what you put in ya know? You better be ready to hit parts of your body on the ground you didn’t think could hit the ground. You better be ready to commit. You put in the work and are granted with the gift of success and respect. It shows you something about yourself. If you want it, you can get it with hard work and dedication. Life lessons. All from pushing a board or pedaling a bike.
Jay Meesh
Keene, NH
Skating helped me meet a lot of great friends I would not have met otherwise.
Jacob Lamothe
Keene, NH
I was at the Keene Skatepark opening day in 97'. There has been years of great riders coming in 4 year waves when new freshmen come in, then graduate years later. Have seen the young guys go from getting dropped off by their moms, to driving their own cars, to getting married. Its been a long 10 years working on this fundraising push to get some concrete down, and push some fresh air into the Keene skate scene. Right now its the closest its ever been to becoming a reality. We got this.
JT
Peterborough, NH
Keene Skatepark fundraising gets boost from skater's foundation
By Sentinel Staff Apr 2, 2019
The effort to build a new Keene Skatepark on Gilbo Avenue recently received a boost from a legendary name in skateboarding.
The Tony Hawk Foundation awarded the park $10,000, according to a news release from the skatepark project organizers. The fundraising total now stands at $95,000, nearly a third of the way to the $300,000 goal for the park’s makeover.
The city of Keene has also included $25,000 in the capital improvement program for fiscal year 2020 to go toward the skate park, which was first established on 9,800 square feet of space in a Gilbo Avenue parking lot in 1997.
For information or to donate, contact project coordinator Kathleen Burke at kathleenburke82@gmail.com; Andy Bohannon at 357-9829 or go to keeneskatepark.com
Project update: Latest plans call for Keene Skatepark to move, expand
By Olivia Belanger Sentinel Staff Oct 13, 2019
The proposed new Keene Skatepark is now bigger than in earlier plans, according to Project Coordinator Kathleen Burke.
Plans now call for the 9,800-square-foot park on Gilbo Avenue, previously slated for an overhaul, to move to the corner of School Street and Gilbo Avenue as part of the Monadnock Economic Development Corp.’s proposed arts corridor, Burke said.
The corridor would stretch along Gilbo Avenue between Main Street and School Street, extend to the Railroad Square area on the other side of Main, and include an outdoor performance space, space for artists to live and work and a welcome center.
Keene State College owns the lot, and even if the corridor doesn’t happen, would still allow the skatepark on the land, Burke said.
The new park would be a poured concrete facility, which Burke said is inexpensive to maintain. The current skatepark, made of plywood and metal sheeting, would be torn down.
With more space allotted for the project, Burke said the envisioned skatepark has expanded to between 12,000 and 15,000 square feet. The fundraising goal has also increased, from $300,000 to $325,000, to account for the bigger space.
As of Thursday, Burke said the project has raised $110,000 of its goal, and is still waiting to hear back on a few “very big donations.”
“We believe by the end of the year we should’ve met our fundraising goal,” Burke said.
If the goal is reached by then, she said the park will be designed this winter and built in the summer of 2020.
Anyone wanting to make a donation can visit www.keeneskatepark.com or make a check out to Pathways for Keene — Keene Skatepark and send it to P.O. Box 226, Keene, NH 03431.
Keene Kiwanis Club donates $5,000 to skate park project
By Sentinel Staff Dec 22, 2018
The project to upgrade Keene’s skate park recently received a financial boost from a local organization.
The Keene Kiwanis Club donated $5,000 to Keene Skatepark, a group of area residents seeking to overhaul the approximately 20-year-old facility on Gilbo Avenue, according to a Thursday news release.
The donation will go toward the $300,000 the group looks to raise to pay for a new poured-concrete skate park to replace the existing city-owned facility, which includes aging wood platforms and steel ramps, some of which date back to the late 1990s.
“This is a substantial donation for the Kiwanis Club and we are very grateful for their generous support,” project coordinator Kathy Burke said in the release. “We hope this encourages others to consider donating to this effort to provide a safe, legal space for skateboarders and BMX riders.”