Riverton Utah Skatepark

I got rained on four times today. What a weird summer for Utah. Rainstorms in June, and it’s about the 433rd time it’s rained just this month. Personally I love the rain, as long as I’m not skating. Today Lex and I got rained out of two outdoor parks, and Binary was closed for some reason. Probably because everyone was over at Blindside in Orem trying to get Jamie Thomas to sign their shirt. Which brings up the matter of autographs. What is with autographs anyway? I’ve never asked anyone to sign anything of mine. Except for that 80s band that came to my high school once, but that was a total joke. Maybe I’m just jealous nobody is asking me to sign anything except checks.

But the real point of this post is that I went and skated the Riverton skatepark after we got rained out of the Springville skatepark. Basically the storm chased us north, because we weren’t at Riverton a half hour before we got rained out there as well.

Sorry, no photos. I really need to get a digital camera.

The Riverton skate park is new and built mostly wrong like most public skateparks. Seriously, what a waste of money.

Again, what frustrates me is that the park could have been a good park if it had just been built by someone with some common sense. A flat bar pitches you straight into a fence. The square bowl has vert in the shallow end. Basically it is four feet deep with three foot transitions. The round bowl has a hole in the deep end with particle board showing through. From all appearances the cement is only 1/4 inch thick and the bowl will probably be useless in a year. A useless handrail sticks out of a weird bank/spine thingy. Ok, I bet someone could make use of it. Maybe three people in Utah. Most of the obstacles are built in ways that make them inaccessible to 98% of skateboarders who aren’t pro, and even pros would prefer to skate something else.

Is the park fun? Yes, it is. Is it better than nothing? Yes, it is. Could something ten times better have been built, and possibly for half the cost? No doubt about it.

Oh, did I mention the entire park is built on a slant? Bizarre, although that part didn’t bother me that much because it made it easy for me to leave since it slants towards the exit.

Go pay $5 and skate Binary instead. It’s just a few minutes away and is much better.