"It's really an honor and a privilege," Aragon said. "It's a rare thing to have a skate park named after a professional extreme athlete. It's one thing I never imagined happening."
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The professional skater will be on hand to celebrate the grand opening and ribbon cutting for the park at a
special event scheduled for Oct. 18. The celebration, which will feature BMX and skating demos, is a purely ceremonial affair.
The 13,000-square foot skate park first opened to the public Aug. 4 and has already become a popular hangout for the city's youth, said
Gary Wardle, parks and recreation director for the city of Brighton.
"It's a great facility and I'm really excited to see all the kids out there using it all the time," Wardle said. "I think everyone who's skated there is really enjoying it. From what we've been told, it's one of the nicer facilities in the area."
Aragon, an inline skater, agrees.
"I've been going there about two times a week," he said. "It's a nice park. It's built really well and I think it's going to be a really good addition for the Denver area."
Plans for the skate park began moving forward in early 2007 when teens in the community approached the city about building a new skate park. The facility at Benedict Park, which opened in 1988 and is believed to be one of first skate parks in the metro area, had become somewhat outdated, he said.
The designs for the new park were generated in part by kids in the community at a series of public input meetings, Wardle said. The facility, which cost approximately $900,000 to construct, is open to inline, skateboard and BMX riders, he said.
Brian Aragon Skate Park, as it's now called, is open daily from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. and features a variety of "events" for riders of all abilities, he said, including deeper bowls and skate rails. Safety equipment is strongly recommended, he said.
Restrictions at the park include: bicycles with pegs and wheels larger than 20 inches; motorized scooters and other vehicles; excessive noise including amplified sound devises; disorderly conduct, profanity and behavior that leads to conflicts; acts involving vandalism, graffiti or modifications to the facility; dogs or other animals; glass; and alcohol and tobacco.