Students at Northeast who have a love for skating now have a brand new place to enjoy their passion. The Norfolk city skate park brought together a community of people who share the same devotion to skating and biking.

The first skate park built in 2000 in Norfolk was recently torn down and replaced with a brand new park in 2020.

“Without the skatepark I would be skating through the alley ways in downtown Norfolk,” Danny Alvardo said.

Having a safe place to skate isn’t the top priority for these skaters. What catches the attention of these skaters is the ramps and rails they can use to perform their tricks.

“It’s a lot better skating at the park than it is finding a random railing somewhere in town,” Junior Kubes said.

With more kids and students sharing the same space brings a sense of community to the fellow skaters in town.

“Everyone is super chill and laid back, there’s also unspoken rules we all follow like waiting turns to do trick or something,” Danny said.

Though recently the skatepark has overcame some backlash from others in the community like fights breaking out between the people using the park.

“Just because one person does something dumb it shouldn’t ruin the fun for the rest of us who are just there to skate,” Junior said.

The students at Northeast want the community to know that just because there’s one incident that shouldn’t ruin the solid reputation the skatepark had from the beginning.

“The community of people that the skatepark has given us, there’s nothing like it,” Danny said.