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Grindwell in-door park to close in coming weeks.
Contributed by: john magee on 3/9/2007

Castle Rock's indoor skate park Grindwell will close doors permanently in the coming weeks.

After almost 2 years Grindwell is calling it quits. This winter was busy with all the extra snow but the entry fee of seven dollars a skater was still not enough to make the high rent for warehouse space in Castle Rock.

This venture has proved disheartening; The goal of Grindwell was only to break even. Between rent and repairs from disrespectful skaters, this proved too difficult even under the best circumstances.

In our first year of opening near by skate shop FAKE SKATEBOARDS, we were encouraged by all of the positive support and gratitude shown us by local skaters and their families for opening in Castle Rock. Regrettably we did not expericanse the same with Grindwell.

Instead we saw the worst in kids and their lack of respect of property, skater owned business and their own community. Of course this was not to be said of all our skaters, but there defiantly is a sense of community and skateboarder unity missing that was there in previous years.

I expect the abundance of outdoor parks has spoiled our local kids, as many were aggressively disappointed to find out that our in-door park was not free. Similarly, many parents seemed utterly mystified about why someone other than their child's legal guardian could not sign a sports waiver for their child.

We will begin dismantling the park shortly to be stored for purchase or until I can find another city to relocate it to. While we would like to sell the entire park to be opened in another town, we will not be piecing it out. We would much rather store it until we can reopen it somewhere more affordable and welcoming.

Meanwhile Fake Skate boards will be moving too! We are designing a new store to be opened near our present location to accommodate our growing core skaters and to welcome new skaters, snowboarders, and customers just looking for great clothing and shoes.

We made a valiant attempt at opening in the north side of town but commercial rent is absurd there and we would have to raise our prices several times over. This may be why so many local businesses are short lived.

We will continue to try to create a welcoming and comfortable atmosphere while updating our image and merchandising to accommodate those from outside our sport who might be shopping for that skater in their family.

While this is a somewhat sad end to one of many chapters to be written on Castle Rock skateboarding, it will be an end to a very stressful one as well. We have taken for granted that some of our great kids would grow up and move away and new skaters would take their place.

We have dropped the ball on educating our new skaters on park etiquette and Unity, so our new focus is to strengthen our skate community through the shop and our events to come to a new more constructive level in a sport that used to exist entirely underground.

We appreciate the support our riders and their families gave us while Grindwell was open, and I hope a lot of good memories were created there. Get involved or just come and hang out at the shop, we are looking forward to a fun snow-free summer on wheels!


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Showing 1 of 1 comments
Submitted By: john magee
posted on 3/20/2007 @ 3:10:58 AM
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We are accepting offers to purchase the ramps as a whole or in sections. Contact John at Fake 720.733.2840
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john magee

Castle Rock , CO

john magee has posted 6 stories and 2 comments since joining on 7/18/2006. john magee 's average story rating is 4.95.
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