Skateboard park committee being formed in Farmington

Feb. 2—FARMINGTON — The Parks and Recreation Department is looking to create a Skateboard Park Committee as it moves toward rebuilding the Dragon's Nest Skateboard Park.

The proposed committee has a few volunteers, including Tyler Brown, a high school teacher who has organized an after-school skate club with Eli Davis of Wilton, Parks and Recreation Department Director Matthew Foster wrote in an email.

Foster is working with Tito Porrata of the Platform Group that specializes in skateboard park design.

"Tito has done an excellent job coming up with a great design to meet the needs of beginner to advanced skaters in a small area," Foster said.

"Our goal here at the Recreation Department is to shoot for a new skateboard park build in 2024. This should give us plenty of time to organize, do some fundraising, grant writing, etc. and line up a construction team," Foster said.

Any donations toward rebuilding the park can be sent with a letter or notation attached asking for it to be used for the "Dragon's Nest Skateboard Park Rebuild" to: Town of Farmington, Parks and Recreation, 153 Farmington Falls Road, Farmington, ME 04938

Foster said he was excited that Brown, Davis and a few others were starting a skateboard team.

"I am hoping that they are able to get a lot of interest and create some new opportunities for the youth in our area," he said. "Tyler and Eli have loads of experience and are great teachers of the sport."

The Farmington Select Board approved $8,000 to be taken from the Dragon's Nest Skateboard Park reserve account in June 2022. The Platform Group will provide design services needed to upgrade the park to modern standards.

"Over the past couple years Seth Wescott has done an annual golf tournament through the Franklin County Chamber [of Commerce]," Foster said last year, according to The Franklin Journal. "He requested some of those donations go to the park for planning, maintenance, improvements, everything."

Selectmen approved a $4,000 donation from the chamber for the skateboard park last December. A $4,700 donation was accepted in February 2021.

The Dragon's Nest originally opened in 1991 and was reopened in 2020.