Central Pennsylvania is weird. There’s hardly any outside influence and parks and shops are few and far between. The majority of places that sell skateboards don’t specialize 100% in skating which makes it tough to tap into the outside world from here. There even used to be places where you could get a ticket just for pushing down the street. Despite all of the nonsense though, skating in this bubble can be pretty sick.

I grew up just outside the state’s capital of Harrisburg in a little town called Mechanicsburg. We didn’t have an outdoor concrete skatepark anywhere nearby until 2008, when they built Reid Menzer in York, which is 45 minutes away so that barely counts as a local. We also had a DIY for a long time called Moptop (rip) but the owners of the property didn’t like it so skating there always came with the risk of a ticket. Other than that there have been a few indoor parks throughout the years which brought people together but none of them stood the test of time.

All these factors meant that we had to resort to skating street for the majority of the time growing up. We did eventually get a skatepark in Steelton in 2017, so that made things a lot easier for people to be able to skate without hassle. Even though we finally got a skatepark nearby this does not take away from the fact that you can find every type of spot in this area. From slappy curbs to handrails, cellar doors to granite plazas, Harrisburg and the surrounding towns have just as many spots as a major city.

In addition to all of the spots we have here at home, there are a bunch of other cities within a three hour drive. Harrisburg is right in between Pittsburgh and Philly and there is a highway running straight from here to Baltimore and D.C. New York is super accessible from here too. Places like York, Lancaster, Reading, and the Lehigh Valley also have some good spots and parks and are all within range of a quick day trip.

Outside of skating this place also has a lot to offer. The Appalachian Trail runs nearby, which makes the scenery here beautiful and gives access to plenty of trails with spectacular views. There are also lots of historical sites from the Civil War and we’re also close to Three Mile Island, which is a nuclear power plant that almost blew up in the 70’s and caused a big scare. So if you like history we’ve got plenty of that.

Even though we are close to so many major cities that have proper coverage of their skate scene, there is not a whole lot coming out of Harrisburg. The homies and I have made a few videos but barely anything else has come out of here. I decided to buy a photo camera last year to try something new, and with some contributions from people who have been shooting photos around here, we were able to put this article together. I wanted to blend in people who are currently skating around here with people who have been killing it over the years as well.

This area is growing fast which has led to new spots being built and there are also talks of new skateparks in the area in the next few years. So if you ever get a chance to check out Harrisburg or any of the other surrounding cities or towns, definitely bring your skateboard and talk to the locals. People here are super friendly and will most likely point you in the direction of something cool to check out if you ask.