The Hawaii County Department of Parks and Recreation is about to unveil a donated skateboard ramp along Hilo Bayfront Beach Park to great fanfare from the area’s local skate community, who’ve become increasingly frustrated at the slow pace of the Hilo Skate Plaza project.

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The Hawaii County Department of Parks and Recreation is about to unveil a donated skateboard ramp along Hilo Bayfront Beach Park to great fanfare from the area’s local skate community, who’ve become increasingly frustrated at the slow pace of the Hilo Skate Plaza project.

Intended to “bridge the gap” until the proposed multimillion-dollar roller-sport facility along Piilani Street across from the Afook-Chinen Civic Auditorium can be built, the 16-foot-wide and 60-foot-long plywood half-pipe ramp was gifted to the county by Oasis Skateboards owner Dan Madsen to create a dedicated space for skaters.

Madsen told the Tribune-Herald he has firsthand experience trying to find suitable skating grounds in Hilo where he’d be welcome. He shared stories of getting off of work after sunset on rainy nights and attempting to skate in a well-lit, covered vacant industrial area only to be “kicked out” by security guards.

“I’d always ask them about it — you know, where am I supposed to go?” he said. “I just worked the whole day, and I’m just trying to literally exercise for like 30 minutes.”

Feeling unwelcome, he said, is a common experience for Hilo-area skaters. This has been a driving force behind the nearly two-decade-long effort to build a skatepark for the city, which based on a county construction timetable and budget information is still at least a few years away.

This chronically delayed and drawn-out process, Madsen said, has left many of his peers “beyond frustrated up to the point of total cynicism.” Now, fed up with waiting, skaters like Madsen have taken it into their own hands to find a way to get by.

“It’s not much, but it’s something,” he said about the ramp sited along Bayfront Park. “It’s a place to go where you won’t get kicked out.”

According to county officials, the ramp must still be connected to the park’s main walkway via a concrete path. This work is slated to wrap up in the next few weeks, and has to be done before the installation can be officially opened.

The ramp’s location between Pauahi and Ponahawai Streets — adjacent to Hilo Bayfront Trails — was chosen due to a variety of considerations, including road vicinity and accessibility.

“The site’s central location in Hilo, its proximity to existing recreational venues, ample parking, and its exposure to main thoroughfares in town make it a favorable site to support and grow the sport,” said county spokesman Tom Callis. “It is also an underutilized area in the park that was accessible via an ADA-compliant route, which allows it to be tied into the Hilo Bayfront Trails system.”

Although the ramp remains technically closed until these finishing touches are complete, this hasn’t stopped skaters from using it. They can often be spotted waiting their turn to “drop-in” by motorists along Kamehameha Avenue.

“I think that’s in the spirit of the necessity of it,” Madsen said about the ramp getting used before its official rollout.

He said he’s heard excited rumblings from the Hilo skate community at the prospect of finally having a venue to call their own.

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“They’re stoked,” he said. “I mean it’s a great location, (and) I think once it gets that official stamp of openness, it will get more action — like a noticeable amount more. And then we’ll be able to do some events and use it as like a gathering place, which is kinda crazy that we haven’t even had something small like that.”

When asked what types of tricks skaters could perform on the ramp, he rattled off a list: “50-50s, rock and rolls, kickflips, blunt to fakies, frontside flips, hand-plants.”

He also said it could serve as a valuable training aid and safe place for beginners to gain experience and grow their confidence on a board.

“You can kind of practice for bigger terrain like some of these bigger skateparks have,” he said. “Mini ramps are like hamster wheels or a treadmill — you can kinda just go back and forth. It’s pretty safe for all ages — older folks, little kids.”

The ramp was gifted to Madsen last year and spent awhile languishing in his yard, where he struggled to protect it from the elements. After a few failed attempts, he said he decided to donate it last August with hopes it would get more use.

He said the motivation to give away the ramp was two-fold.

“The main thing is that it gets used,” he said. “And I think the secondary is that it gets people excited to start poking the bear and asking where the real deal is.”

This “real deal” is the Hilo Skate Plaza, which will be built on the 2.8-acre property along Piilani Street — land that was transferred from the state to the county via executive order in 2000. In 2023, the county cleared and fenced the site and is currently in the process of finalizing design plans.

“The permanent skate park is still in the design phase, and we anticipate completing design by the end of this year,” Callis said. “Cost estimates are currently preliminary, and we will have a clearer picture as we get closer to completing the design.”

The project is the brainchild of Hilo Skateplaza Coalition — a local community organization to which Madsen belongs that has been advocating for a skating facility in Hilo since 2007.

Prior estimated costs for the skatepark hovered around $6 million, to be paid for with a combination of state and county funds.

Preliminary plans call for a dedicated flat-track for use by local roller derby teams, a covered roller arena to support roller hockey leagues, and a massive skatepark with “street obstacles” and traditional “bowl-style” skating areas, in addition to typical park infrastructure like pavilions, restrooms and a playground.

After nearly two decades of delays and false starts, Madsen said he feels confident that Hilo skaters are now invested enough in the project to put pressure on county officials to finally make it happen.

“I think there’s enough community outcry at this point where I hope they feel responsible to see it through in a timely fashion,” he said.

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Email Stefan Verbano at [email protected].