some folks are trying to get things changed though! i've been sort of helping out the batesville skatepark project for awhile now. not so much since i moved out to az. i guess i feel a little detached from the project. not sure... anyway... the committee is slowly dwindling as time goes on with this project. the same thing happened to the oxford skatepark committee. it's a frustrating thing for the president of a project. it's disheartening and it's not very motivating.
batesville is about 20 minutes from oxford. oxford has an amazing grindline park which was finished in 2006. it's been rad to watch the progression of the skaters there. going from squeamish feelings when looking down into the bowl and thinking "do i drop in and eat shit or not??". the bowl has no roll-ins and no mellow spot to try that first drop in. you pretty much have to suck it up and just do it. i've seen several eat it. and i've seen several eat it and get up and do it over and over again and finally get it and scream FUCK YEAH!!!!!!!! so loud you could hear it miles away. (maybe) anyway... emily griste and i talked about getting a project started for batesville a couple of years ago where she is a teacher for the gifted kids and she thought it would be a great project for the year. they did some scientific reports on skateboarding and it's been a very educational thing for them. but as time goes by, interest dwindles and the weight of this project rests on her shoulders. i know what it feels like. it sucks. oxford went through the same thing. but with perserverance and new people that come in to help the project, things finally come together if the project can withstand the lack of support of the general community. it gets frustrating when you see money and/or land given to the soccer, baseball, and other mainstream groups and it leaves you wondering, where will our skateboarders go?
one of the big fundraisers she is working on is an art auction. some pieces have already been collected and she plans to hold it in the spring. any kind of art will be auctioned off in hopes of raising a lot of money to go towards the project. unlike a lot of cities where you see skateparks popping up, this is not funded at all so far by the city. there have been promises from the mayor but there is yet to be anything written in concrete. the plans are to build another concrete park hopefully by dreamland or grindline or a comparable skatepark design/build company. but this will only happen with the help of the people that will be skating it and those that just want to see something rad happen in little ol' batesville mississippi.
ANYONE can help out. but we look to the skateboarding community obviously for the most support.
if you are interested in helping out, you can paypal a dollar or whatever you can to batesvilleskatepark@yahoo.com. you can check out the myspace at http://www.myspace.com/batesvilleskatepark or at http://www.batesvilleskatepark.com. you can contact emily at batesvilleskatepark@yahoo.com or you can write me.
here's some pictures of famous people who have been to oxford ONLY to skate the skatepark... (famous people who are not shown here: tony hawk and his secrete skatepark tour; mike vallely; and others i can't remember right now)
tuma britton (santa monica airlines - photo by lucky tucker) he is so famous he was in a movie!
local ripper mike rains watches stephen bailey rip the rightous bowl in neon sunglasses! stephen and his friends didn't believe that mississippi had a gnarly bowl so they drove there while in the area to see it..photo by bryan cage (owner of local skateshop - suite ten skateboards located behind the skatepark)
my personal hotness... wrex cook. he and tuma came out for the opening. he's been returning to oxford ever since. he loves the rightous bowl and even though i'm obviously partial to him, he rips it like no one else can!!!
