Downtown venue ‘more than just a skateboard plaza’: Kirton
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 21/05/2010 (5797 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
It’s a sneak peek for those in the Wheat City who are counting down the days to the completion of the Kristopher Campbell Memorial Skate Plaza.
Construction of the $1.1-million skate park by Winnipeg-based J&D Penner Ltd. kicked off earlier this month at the corner of Ninth Street and Princess Avenue, the former site of the famed Prince Edward Hotel.
Completion, weather permitting, is set for the end of July.
But architectural drawings released exclusively to the Brandon Sun this week show a 25,000-square-foot outdoor recreation facility that respects both the unique needs of the skateboarding community and the history of the Eddy, says project manager Marlow Kirton.
In addition to the stairs, rails, jumps and ramps that skateboarders, rollerbladers and BMX bikers crave, the plaza will provide a number of subtle history lessons.
"All the way around the perimeter, you will see heritage signage components that will explain the history of the site," Kirton told the Sun. "As well, the columns all along the perimeter are a replication of the cornice work of the old hotel, right at its top. They have re-produced that in steel and those particular columns will line up all the way around to give it some dimension and to give some indication that there was something of strength there in days gone by."
In addition to the historical signage, the plaza’s different trick and jump areas bear the names of the historic hotel’s different staging areas.
For example, the two-metre deep cement bowl is called the Rotunda, while the jump components in corner of the site that hosted loading and unloading trains back in the hotel’s heyday boast monikers like the Platform and the Spur Line.
But the plaza is poised to be much more than a sporting destination, Kirton noted, as the plaza’s southwest corner also provides for a performance area to accommodate for "plugged-in" musical or art performances.
"So much effort has gone into this to create more than just a skateboard plaza. This addresses many, many needs … for the skateboarders themselves, for a downtown community that is definitely in need of something that drives traffic, for something that caters to youth.
"This is turning into a really, really nice area that’s going to be active and going to be the right kinds of people doing the right kinds of things at the right time for Brandon," he said.
While the project’s $1.1-million price tag has been covered off through a mix of municipal, provincial, federal and locally fundraised cash, efforts continue by the skateboarding community to find corporate sponsors to help pay for the cost of the plaza’s signage and lighting.
