B.C.'s third-largest skate park now has stadium lights.
Penticton Youth Park 鈥� located on Riverside Drive 鈥� was powered up with lights for the first time Friday, Oct. 18, as the city hosted skateboarders, scooter riders and even basketball players for an unveiling ceremony.
The sets of lights cost $400,000 and were installed this fall following a successful notice of motion in May 2023 from councillors Amelia Boultbee, Isaac Gilbert and Ryan Graham.
"Our focus is to have a city that's safer for everyone, resilient, vibrant, and livable," Penticton Mayor Julius Bloomfield said moments before the lights were turned on for the first time.
"The vibrancy is here, it's where the kids will come and play."
Bloomfield, joined by councillors Isaac Gilbert, Helena Konanz and Ryan Graham, made a brief speech before the ramps, rails and neighbouring basketball hoops were lit.
The first-term mayor applauded those who helped make the project a reality. It was cited as a public safety project when the trio of aforementioned councillors brought forward the notice of motion.
Bloomfield also praised David Perry, who served as Penticton's mayor from 2002 to 2005.
Perry was in attendance for Friday's ceremony and helped ensure the completion and eventual opening of Penticton Youth Park in the mid-2000s, Bloomfield said.
"Dave, good on you for building the skate park in the first place, it was an awesome job," the city's current mayor added. "You built one of the largest skate parks in the province, right here in Penticton. What a fantastic vision that was in 2005."
Stadium lights were paid for by using money from Penticton's $7.2 million share of the B.C. government's Growing Communities Fund.
The skate park has regularly hosted skateboarders and scooter riders for close to 20 years. Installing lights at the facility, however, had become a highly-requested feature for many of its user groups.
Large crowds gathered inside the outside the skate park to celebrate the occasion, as a result.
Friday's ceremony ran from 5 to 7 p.m. and featured a DJ, food trucks, skateboarding, BMX biking and basketball showcase. Representatives from local bike and snowboard shops were on-site to take part in an open skate event.
"This is a place where people can come, have a great time and do something that doesn't cost a fortune," Bloomfield said of the lights' unveiling. "This is part of what makes a community."
