Skateparktour.ca Skatepark News

Archive for the ‘Site News’ Category

Humble Beginnings

Millennium Park

Four years ago, August 20, 2006 Skateparktour.ca went live for the first time with about 15 or 20 skatepark virtual tours on the site and a  few more  waiting to be done.The skate season  was over by the time skateparktour.ca launched so not a lot of people found the site until the summer of 2007 when traffic at the site took off with August page views doubling the previous month so from that point on it was clear skateparktour.ca was a hit and the site was here to stay.  Today, skatepakrtour.ca includes 118 skateparks all over BC and Alberta and visitor traffic has continues to grow at a fantastic pace, demonstrating that skateparktour.ca offers a useful  service to the skate and action sports community in western Canada.

Click here to a quick Skaetparktour.ca Feedback survey

Plans For The Future

• Skateparktour.ca plans to keep growing and to look for ways  to become and even more valuable resource.  Some plans include:
• Growing the list of skateparks included in the skateparktour.ca directory
  • Asking site visitors to contribute photos of their local skatepark so that Skateparktour.ca can include skateparks from all over Canada, including communities too distant or expensive for us to travel to take pictures of.
  • Taking photos of as many skateparks as time and money allows
• Looking for ways to  add more interactivity to the site:
  • A rating system where visitors could rate skateparks and generate a ranking list of the best in a region
  • ideas?
• Improving the skatepark tours:
  • Gradually replacing the Quicktime virtual tours with photo tours (flash virtual tours are great but to time consuming to build in the numbers now on this site
  • getting  the Google maps to centre and zoom properly a major frustration!
  • Adding more detailed information about each skatepark

It’s been a fun four years and the comments and suggestions sent in by visitors have been great!   In the mean time, here are some new skatepark tours added  recently to celebrate skateparktour’s 4th birthday:

• Caroline AB
• Cranbrook BC
• Fort Macleod AB
• Grand Forks BC
• Keremeos BC
• Kimberley BC
• Montrose BC

New Skatepark Photos Posted

Looking west . . .

You have to get up very early to beat the crowds at Airdrie’s brand new Chinook Winds skatepark.  The park surrounding Alberta’s newest skatepark is still under construction, with a fence in place to keep the skaters IN so they don’t interfere with the work on the Chinooks Winds park (now that’s riding switch isn’t it, usually we’re fenced out of places to skate).  Skaters from Airdrie, Calgary,and all over Alberts are flocking to Chinook Winds meaning ya gotta get up early or wait in line to skate most days.  You can now see Chinook Winds before you leave home as the long awaited pics have been posted.  If you build it, they will come . . . Calgary, are you watching?

EVERY comment I’ve heard since Chinook Winds opened has been positive, not one person has been less than totally stoked after their first visit.  There are lots of challenging obstacles for skaters seeking challenges, but the park is skateable by the beginners too.  The snake run is lots of fun and there is a bowl with some vert for those the vert skaters out there.  Chinooks Winds is the largest new park built in Alberta for a while and it may just be the best.  What do you think is the best skatepark in Alberta? Leave your comments

If you skate at the Penticton Youthpark or the old Penticton skatepark this year you’ll face the wrath of city Bylaw officers if you don’t wear your brain bucket this year. Penticton city council recently passed the helmet bylaw to protect you and other skaters from the potentially life changing brain injuries that could happen if you slam your head into the cement when a trick doesn’t work out so well.  There will be no fine for breaking the bylaw but apparently you could face having your skateboard confiscated. Read this Penticton Western News article for more detail.