BOISE, Idaho — Whether you know it or not, Boise is a skate town. Just ask Boise Parks and Recreation Director Doug Holloway, who has watched the skate community grow.
“Any given day at Rhodes downtown, we'll see 50, 60, 70 skaters. I'm not sure why they're not in school when it's a school day,” Holloway laughingly.
It’s easy to track seminal moments in the growth of the skate community, hosting the X Games in Boise was a huge part of that.
“We had skaters from all over the world, the top skaters from around the world," Holloway said. "It was an invite-only type of event. So, you had to be invited by ESPN in order to come to Boise, Idaho, to skate in those events."
To be a skate town, you need skate parks. Like the rest of Boise, it’s about growth. Enter, the all new Molenaar Skate Park.
“I would look at this park here, skate park at Moolenaar, as being a mini-Rhodes. It really is," Holloway said. "It has some of the same features, it has the same type of layout from the standpoint that it is for beginners, all the way through experts."
The park was designed and constructed by Grindline Skateparks, Inc., the same team that assembled Rhodes.
Truth be told, without the J.A. and Kathryn Albertson Family Foundation, the new park wouldn’t be ready to celebrate for several years.
“They worked closely with the Boise Skateboard Association and the City of Boise to say, 'why don't we build this park sooner than when the city could build it?' We were way on board,” Holloway said.
Speaking of being “on board,” new parks need new skaters. 15-year-old Noah Thomas has been shredding through the City of Trees since he was a young kid.
“I just fell in love, it was super fun,” Thomas said.
Thomas ripped through the new park Thursday as the city counts down to the grand opening celebration on Aug. 1, at 9:30 a.m.
“I love the skate park. I think it has a bunch of stuff, a bunch of areas, features, it's like a mini-Rhodes, “ Thomas said. “It's great. I think it really flows nice. There's a bunch of space in between features and a bunch of variety from beginner to expert.”
Within the Boise skate community, Thomas said he feels excitement for the new park – a park that will now be the second largest in Boise.
“I feel like there is. All my friends, they're super excited for the grand opening and all that. It’s super cool,” Thomas said.
With a new skatepark in Boise, skaters from across the Treasure Valley are expected to stop by. It's that opportunity, a blank new canvas, that Thomas is excited to see.
“I feel like it's definitely a place where you can do something new first, like you'll see on Instagram," Thomas said. "I didn't even think about doing that, and it's like really cool to have a new gap, new trick there and something like that."
For the City of Boise, that is what they are hoping for: a new community center.
“That's activity and that's physical activity, and we really want to see that with our families. It's healthy, it builds community and the City of Boise,” Holloway said.
Grand opening ceremony for the Molenaar Skate Park will feature a live music set from DJ RahKeeM, coffee from Push & Pour and more.
That same evening, the Boise Skateboard Association and special guests will be set for the Boise premiere of the skate movie, "N-Men: The Untold Story," at the Egyptian Theatre in downtown Boise.
Skateboarding legend Tony Alva is expected to drop in for the park opening to see the new spot for himself. He will be a featured guest for the screening of the movie as well.
To cap off his day Thursday, Thomas showed the KTVB team what skaters can really do at the park.
“It's great. It's crazy that they're doing this for this skate community, and they're just making new skateparks, new spots. It's crazy to me,” Thomas said.
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