Skate park coming to Cedartown thanks to T-Mobile grant
Kickflips and ollies will soon have a dedicated location to be performed in Cedartown after the city announced the addition of a skateboard park at Goodyear Park near the former Goodyear Plant site.
The project is being mostly funded through a Hometown Grant from mobile carrier T-Mobile in the amount of $49,174. Company representatives were on hand Dec. 15, 2022, to present the city with the grant and celebrate the announcement.
Jason Harris, owner of Harris Skate Shop on West Avenue in Cedartown, has talked to city officials recently about trying to build a skate park.
“This has been something that’s been a long time coming,” city commissioner Matt Foster said during the presentation, saying that he had tried skateboarding a couple of years ago with varying results.
“And as I got back into my car I thought to myself, we need something in this town where people can go and skate and not just go
on some curb downtown and get run off by a business owner or not at the tennis courts, but something that actually can be
made specifically for skateboarding.”
Foster said that’s when he met with Harris, and the T-Mobile grant became
the perfect opportunity to try and make something happen.
“This would not be possible at this point in time, had it not been for this wonderful investment from our friends at T-Mobile,” Foster said.
Harris worked with the city on the grant application, selecting specific hardware to be installed that includes two halfpipes at varying heights, skate benches, quarterpipes and wedges. It will be built on a 50-square-foot concrete pad to the east of the soccer fields.
“This is something I did as a child and it kept me out of a lot of trouble. I could have gone in a lot of different directions. This has allowed me to do something that I want to do and do something for my community,” Harris said before ending with his motto: “Don’t hate, go skate.”
Cedartown Director of Economic Development Oscar Guzman said the grant will fund the majority of the project and the total time of construction should take no more than two months from the start of grading and concrete installation.