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Nipomo skateboarders join San Luis Obispo County officials in throwing dirt Saturday to officially break ground for the Nipomo Skatepark. The skaters were among a group of Mesa Middle School students who organized a fundraising drive in 2016 to help pay for the facility in Nipomo Community Park.

Conceptual drawings of the Nipomo Skatepark were on display at the official ground-breaking ceremony for the facility Saturday. Construction is scheduled to begin Monday.

San Luis Obispo County parks commissioners Ranelle Baldwin and Mike Eisner, from left, join County Parks and Recreation Department Director Nick Franco and 4th District Supervisor Lynn Compton to welcome the public to a ground-breaking ceremony Saturday for the long-awaited skate park in Nipomo Community Park. 

San Luis Obispo County Parks and Recreation Department employees and local skaters check out conceptual drawings of the long-awaited Nipomo Skatepark during official ground-breaking ceremonies Saturday.

Nipomo skateboarders join San Luis Obispo County officials in throwing dirt Saturday to officially break ground for the Nipomo Skatepark. The skaters were among a group of Mesa Middle School students who organized a fundraising drive in 2016 to help pay for the facility in Nipomo Community Park.

San Luis Obispo County parks commissioners Ranelle Baldwin and Mike Eisner, from left, join County Parks and Recreation Department Director Nick Franco and 4th District Supervisor Lynn Compton to welcome the public to a ground-breaking ceremony Saturday for the long-awaited skate park in Nipomo Community Park. 

San Luis Obispo County Parks and Recreation Department employees and local skaters check out conceptual drawings of the long-awaited Nipomo Skatepark during official ground-breaking ceremonies Saturday.

It seemed reality set in Saturday for Nipomo skateboarders when ground was finally broken on the long-awaited skate park in Nipomo Community Park.

Tossing the symbolic first shovels of dirt were San Luis Obispo County 4th District Supervisor Lynn Compton, 4th District Parks Commissioner Mike Eisner, 5th District Parks Commissioner Ranelle Baldwin and Parks and Recreation Department Director Nick Franco.

Compton thanked the community for its support and efforts to provide the skate park as a safe place for the area’s youth to have fun and a legal facility where skaters can hone their skills.

Also tossing shovels of dirt with county officials were some of the skaters who back in 2016, while students at Mesa Middle School, launched a campaign to raise money for the park’s construction and Tom Slater, the teacher who helped them organize that fundraising drive.

In a 2017 workshop, Mesa skaters also provided the county with input on the Nipomo Skatepark’s design, which was ultimately developed by the San Diego firm Stantec.

The 10,000-square-foot park will have three quarter-pipes, one with a window, as well as two bowls, two grind ledges, a hubba ledge, a stacked ledge, hand rails, steps, a flat bar and banks.

It will also include picnic tables, prefabricated restrooms and its own parking lot off Orchard Road, which will be extended past West Tefft Street to become the new entrance to that side of Nipomo Community Park.

Construction work is scheduled to begin Monday, May 23, said Tanya Richardson, assistant director of SLO Parks and Recreation Department.

Conceptual drawings of the Nipomo Skatepark were on display at the official ground-breaking ceremony for the facility Saturday. Construction is scheduled to begin Monday.

Nipomo skateboarders had dreamed of having their own skate park as far back as the mid-1990s, and it was included as a possible feature when SLO County began work on the Nipomo Community Park Master Plan around 2002.

The site of the skate park, adjacent to the Nipomo Library, was also designated as the potential location for a public swimming pool, but when the master plan was finally approved in 2012, the skate park was included.

But it took until 2020, when SLO County received a $500,000 state grant, to collect enough money to construct the park.

The cost for just the skate park is pegged at $2.9 million, but the total project cost is just under $3.26 million, which includes moving a gas line and creating the new park entrance.

Hundreds of skateboarders are bombing down Tepusquet Road this weekend for the annual Tepe and Tacos downhill skateboarding race and freeride.

Kevin Reimer, right, organizer of the Tepe and Tacos downhill skateboarding race and freeride, talks to participants on Thursday. 

Hundreds of skateboarders are bombing down Tepusquet Road this weekend for the annual Tepe and Tacos downhill skateboarding race and freeride.

Hundreds of skateboarders are bombing down Tepusquet Road this weekend for the annual Tepe and Tacos downhill skateboarding race and freeride, while also sharing meals and camping at the base of the run in the annual event.

Tepe and Tacos, which is officially recognized by USA Skateboarding, has attracted 240 skateboarders, street lugers and at least one roller blader, from around the world to the Santa Maria Valley back road. Riders arrived Thursday and will stay through Sunday.

Hundreds of skateboarders are bombing down Tepusquet Road this weekend for the annual Tepe and Tacos downhill skateboarding race and freeride.

Kevin Reimer, right, organizer of the Tepe and Tacos downhill skateboarding race and freeride, talks to participants on Thursday. 

Hundreds of skateboarders are bombing down Tepusquet Road this weekend for the annual Tepe and Tacos downhill skateboarding race and freeride.

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