Howlong Skate Park officially open

Published on 27 November 2018

Perfect weather conditions greeted the many smiling faces at Howlong Skate Park’s Official Opening on Saturday.

The official opening held at Lowe Square provided an exciting atmosphere for all ages with YMCA Action Sports Demonstrations, Timmy G prizes and giveaways, face painting and a barbeque.

The Stronger Communities Fund enabled the addition of the $201,900 Skate Park to the Lowe Square Playground upgrade to create a recreational space that now caters for families, children and youth of Howlong.

The Howlong Youth Park Committee worked together with the community also for the skate park and raised $15,000 towards the project. The project was also financially supported from the Howlong Lions Club (and Lions Australia) who committed $25,000 along with $5,000 from the Howlong Op Shop.

The design concept skate park was prepared by award winning skate park designers, Convic who are leaders in youth space and skate park design. The ‘street terrain’ style skate park has a number of features, including 900H (3ft) Quarter with Doorway, 300H (1ft) Kicker to Kicker, 400H Round Flat Bar, 350H Ledge, 1200H (4ft) Bank with 750H Jersey Barrier Extension, Banked Hip, 1200H (4ft) Mini Ramp and a 1500H (5ft) Quarter Pipe.

Mayor Pat Bourke said Council was proud to celebrate the Howlong Skate Park opening with the Howlong community and hoped that Howlong’s youngest residents would enjoy the new space for many years to come.

“A fantastic day was had by all at the opening and it was great to see so many smiling faces using the new skate park,” Mayor Bourke said.

“The Howlong Skate Park project is one of the many new infrastructure installations or upgrades to occur as part of Council’s Play Space Upgrade Program as Council is placing a strong focus on improving the liveability of our area, as we work to meet the needs of our residents, support youth and attract young families. Council would like to acknowledge the commitment to this project not only from our local groups, but that of the NSW Government who supported Council with a considerable financial contribution to deliver this new facility for the betterment of the Howlong community.”

Member for Albury Greg Aplin said the NSW Government has been pleased to support the Federation Council’s decision to invest near $200,000 of merger funds into this community asset.

“This new skate parks gives our young people a positive reasons to get out and get active,” Mr Aplin said.

“I would also like to acknowledge the magnificent support and hard work of the Howlong Youth Park Committee who pushed for the project and provided $15,000, the Howlong Lions Club ($25,000) and the Howlong Op Shop ($5,000). This was a real community effort of which you can all be very proud. It’s a tribute to Federation Council that we can work together on projects which build richer, healthier regional communities like Howlong.”

Council would like to thank the following event supporters: NSW Government, Lions Club of Howlong and Australian Lions Foundation, Howlong Skate Park Committees, Howlong Op Shop, YMCA Action Sports Demonstrations, Timmy G and the Community of Howlong.