Snow doesn't slow skatepark

Though the weather was extremely fickle last week and the eastern Hi-Line was hit with a full day of snow, followed by a full day of rain, which did not stop the Evergreen Skateparks crew from working on Hill Crest Park, which ultimately kept them right on schedule. The park also earned additional funds from KMMR's Radio-thon held last Wednesday morning.

"The radio-thon went excellent," KMMR's Travis Rhoads told the PCN. "We had tons of donations. We should be around upwards of seven thousand dollars now."

Rhoads also noted that the fund-raiser also netted the park donations of park benches and commitments to build sidewalks.

"I'm very pleased with how much everybody donated," Rhoads said. "People are still able to donate if they would like, they can just leave a check to Malta Trails."

Rhoads went on to say that donations can be sent to First Security Bank.

"It's tax-deductable," he said. "So if you need to make a tax-deduction, there's a good way to do it."

The skatepark's construction is fully paid for but according to Malta Mayor Shyla Jones, the aim of the fund-raiser is to give the park some much-needed upgrades and maintenance.

She said portions of the money raised at the Radio-thon will go toward installing permanent trashcans in the park – similar to those currently on Malta's Front Street. She also reiterated that several local contractors are going to donate their time to build sidewalks around the park including a path to a new, off street parking area near the location. Mayor Jones said there will also be concrete foundations laid for the base of some picnic tables that were donated to the city.

"We are also going to permanently mount all the park benches to concrete as well," she said.

Mayor Jones said that many skateparks around the country prohibit the use of tobacco, but in order for the City of Malta to enact such a policy the city would have to ban tobacco use in all Malta City parks. She added that Phillip Henderson has agreed to donate equipment and an operator to assist the Malta Public Works Crew to clear brush that is currently at the east end of the skatepark.

"And then we will leave all the cottonwoods to provide shade for the picnic areas," she added. "It will also clear up a really big area so that there will still be a big space for kids to play kickball, football, softball or if people just want to run around."

Rhoads mentioned that the funds will also go towards bathrooms; however it may require grants that would go towards the city's budget to do so.

Thanks to the generosity of the community, Rhoads' initial goal of $3,000 was doubled in the three hour event.

"I had originally said, it would be nice to get three-thousand, but I would like to have a goal of five and here we are sitting at seven-thousand," Rhoads said.

He went on to say that KMMR had received donations from callers in other states including Colorado, California, Kansas and the park even received donations from Glasgow.

To give a good idea of the costs for some of the improvements, Rhoads said that the style of park benches that Malta Trails will aim to set in the park will cost around $400 - $500 per bench and an overhead area like the structure in Trafton Park will cost around $5,000 and a picnic table will cost close to $700.

"We're also looking into garbage cans," Rhoads said. "Nice looking garbage cans. We don't want to just put a big black one out there."

Some of the Hill Crest residents showed real concerns about the park that seemed to appear overnight. The main complaint seemed to be the upkeep.

"We're going to try to make this a nice family park," Rhoads said. "Me included, lots of families are going to have little ones or a wife and kids that are going to want to hang out under the shade while someone skateboards."

After the Skatepark is finished, Rhoads said they will move on to the BMX park in the old skating rink.

As far as the construction of the park, Billy Coulon, Owner and operator of Evergreen Skateparks said the snow and rain won't affect their completion goal.

"It kind of slows down the process but it's all a part of it," Coulon said noting they have built through worse weather. "You just gotta work through it; you can't just wait on sunny days to work."

Having dug out the park days before the rain, it was quite slick, but they are still aiming for the first of June to be the completion date.

"It's kind of a muddy mess right now," Coulon said. "But we're still keeping at it."

The crew is staying in Malta throughout the construction process and they like what they see.

"It's a nice little town," he said. "We're definitely content here. It's a nice job site and everybody is happy that we're here and happy about the project."

Coulon also gave props to the local cuisine.

"I ate at the (Ray J's) and it was very good," he said.

The Skatepark in Malta isn't even close to the first build for Evergreen Skateparks. Since its start in 2011, the crew has put together just over thirty parks.

Of the parks that they have built, the largest park is over 30,000 square feet. That skatepark is in Modiin, Israel.

The smallest park was swimming pool sized.

Malta's park is one of the company's smallest parks but what it lacks in size, it makes up for in design.

"It's not very big, it's pretty small but as far as creativity and the design of the build, it's ranking up there pretty high," Coulon said. "It going to be a refined little park where we're going to be able to put all of our efforts into making it as good as it should be."