*** Work To Begin On Fairfield Skate Park ***

Spokane, Washington -- 04/21/2007
Fairfield skateboarders get ready. The southeast Spokane
County town is about break ground on a new skate park.

Construction on the $49,000 park could start in the next
couple of weeks after a few loose ends are tied up with the
Town Council, said Jep Edwards, of the Fairfield Skate Park
Committee.

Contractors were on location last week to shoot the grade
for the 4,500-square-foot skateboard facility, which will be
located in Thiel Park, just east of Highway 27. Skateboarders
could be rolling through the site before summer's end.

A skate park for a town of fewer than 600 people is no small
order. Residents started talking about building the park in 2002
because they saw an interest among older children, who had
outgrown Fairfield's traditional park playground equipment.

Because the next closest skate park is 25 miles away in Spokane
Valley, Edwards and others imagine children from as far north as
Freeman and as far southeast as Worley and Plummer, Idaho
coming to Fairfield to skate.

More than 30 people either pledged time or experience
building the park under the supervision of national state
park builder Huna Designs. but the real challenge was
raising cash.

Skate park volunteers raised $8,000 for their cause, mostly
through community events such as cake walks and raffles.

Spokane County then came through with two park grants worth
roughly $25,000. Private donors including national skateboard
phenom Tony Hawk, Avista, Bank of Fairfield, AmericanWest
Bank and Rockford Lions then chipped in roughly $10,000.
Individual donors threw in another $6,000.

The park got a big push toward the finish line recently when
it received a $5,000 grant from The Home Depot and KaBoom!,
a charitable organization promoting play spaces within walking
distance of every community in the country.

* UPDATE: Fairfield Skate Park See:
http://www.genesbmx.com/Eastern-Washington-Skate-Parks.html