EASTHAMPTON — The dream to build a skate and all-wheels park in Easthampton is one step closer to fruition, after the City Council recently dedicated $250,000 to help fulfill a promise to someone who didn’t get to see their dream come to life.
Twenty-eight years ago, driving back to his home in Westhampton, David MacDonald died in a car crash. An avid skater, MacDonald and his friends had a dream to build a skate park in Easthampton. After his death, his parents Bob and Nance MacDonald, began working toward getting a skate park built in honor of their son. They began fundraising and asking different businesses for help until eventually they raised $25,000 and built a skate park with a plaque honoring David in the area behind the Eastworks mill building, now known as Millside Park.
“Trying to raise money was very difficult when he passed, but we wanted to fulfill his dream and build a skate park,” Bob MacDonald said.
Unbeknownst to the MacDonalds, after living in Westhampton for about five years, the skate park was taken down and relocated to Chesterfield where it still stands. The idea for another skate park in the city has been discussed multiple times in the last two decades, but it didn’t gain traction until the last couple of years.
At the council’s Sept. 3 meeting, MacDonald and many skate park backers, including children and members from the Easthampton Skate Park Committee, spoke in favor of a $250,000 Community Preservation Act grant to help fund the project. The council unanimously approved the funding at that meeting.
“We’ve been trying to get the ball rolling for a number of years and now we’ve got a brand new group of people that have done a phenomenal job of bringing it back to light again,” Bob MacDonald said at the meeting about the project. “We’re at the point where I’m so close we can taste it. I’m hoping and praying this will make it this time. I don’t know if I can wait much longer.”
In addition to the skate park, the council approved a $264,500 in CPA money for renovations to the water park at Nonotuck Park, as well as $699,985 from the capital stabilization fund for the next phase of the Main Street reconstruction.
Skate park plans
The CPA funding for the skate park will cover the design and some construction costs. The committee hopes this funding will help leverage an additional $425,000 from the state Parkland Acquisitions and Renovations for Communities (PARC) grant program to cover the total cost, estimated at $750,000. The committee will attempt to fundraise an additional $75,000 to cover all costs.
The committee estimates the PARC grant will be awarded in November. Designs are expected to be complete in July next year with construction to start shortly after. The official opening of the park is slated for the spring of 2027.
Westhampton resident Jeff Burke joined the Skate Park Committee in 2019. A lifelong skater, he was also part of a push to build another skate park in Quincy, Massachusetts, where he previously lived.
“If you build a skate park, it will be the most popular park in town. It always is,” he said. “You can use it for so many different things, skateboarding, BMX, wheelchair sports. You build one park and you check off all of these boxes.”
Burke grew up in Westfield and would travel to Easthampton to use the skate park. He was sad to see that park move to Chesterfield as part of the larger renovation process at Millside Park. He feels the skate park was one of the attention-grabbing factors that brought attention to the area as a prime location for redevelopment.
“You have this beautification process at Millside Park and there were plans for a new skatepark and it was never built,” said Burke. “The skate park was the thing that was drawing eyes to the park.”
Burke mentioned that there were multiple locations suggested for the park including Nonotuck Park and Daley Field, but Millside — the park’s original location — was where it was always meant to be. “When it came down to it, the best site to put the skate park was the site where it always was meant to be,” he said.
The new skate park will be made from concrete, an important aspect that provides a longer lifespan while requiring less maintenance.
While there is no skate park in the city, there is the Easthampton Skate Club, a business inside the Eastworks building. The club offers a space for people of all ages to pay for private lessons or open skate time. Owner Noah Halpern is on the Skate Park Committee and has shown support for the project.
Burke emphasized the project has been a collaborative effort not just from members of the committee and the community, but also city officials.
Council support
Apart from community members, several councilor’s showed support for the project.
“This project is so important and it’s the beginning of fulfilling a promise to MacDonald,” said interim Mayor Salem Derby.
Derby is a lifelong skateboarder and reminisced on times throughout childhood when he would spend days skating with friends.
“It’s huge and I think this is going to be not just a huge benefit to the community, but it’s going to be a huge benefit to a generation of kids that are so unfortunately stuck behind screens and this is a way to get them out,” he said.
Precinct 5 Councilor Tamara Smith lauded the project, referencing one of her children who skates. She sees this as an opportunity for children to explore a new hobby.
“When we look at traditional kid’s sports, skate parks have always been excluded from that and it has always sent the message that only a certain type of performing kid is the valuable kid,” she said. “I love to see many more activities coming up in Easthampton that celebrates all youth.”
Similarly, At-Large Councilor Koni Denham sees the park as a way to create outdoor and recreational opportunities for children.
“Hats off to you all,” she said to members of the Skate Park Committee. “This has been a long time coming and I just want to second the idea that we often rely in this city on organized sports for our young people. I think that we have a really diverse youth population that needs activity beyond organized sport.”
Other funding approved
The council also voted to appropriate nearly $700,000 for the next phase of the Main Street reconstruction project. The funding will be used for water and sewer utility upgrades, and the redesign of the signalized intersection on the street.
Department of Public Works Director Greg Nuttleman said at the council meeting that the funding will unlock an additional $9 million to complete the project that spans from Park Street to Northampton Street. The city is working with the Massachusetts Department of Transportation and is currently 25% done with the design phase. Construction is scheduled for 2028.
The $264,500 in CPA funds for the Nonotuck Spray Park improvements will pay for installation of a system that will capture and reuse the water from the park, as a way to conserve water and save money for the city. Parks and Recreation Department Director John Mason explained that these funds will help secure a matching federal grant through the United States Department of Interior, Land and Water Conservation Fund. The matching grant is currently waiting for federal approval.
Councilor Smith asked if signs could be installed that explain the water retainment process, seeing it as a learning opportunity for children. Mason said that was a “great idea,” and it could be easily done with minimal funding necessary.