Words and Photos by Luke McKaye
It’s beautiful how many DIYs have been popping up in recent years. It seems like every city has one, or at least a great story about one that used to exist before getting torn down. Fortunately, the skateboarders in Statesville, NC have recently started a DIY that is primed to stand the test of time. Skateboarding in the city is illegal, and there have been numerous initiatives to get a skatepark since the 90’s. Multiple attempts at DIYs have tried and failed. About ten years ago Chris Griffith took a different approach and built a relationship with the Statesville Housing Authority. This slowly evolved into the fully sanctioned DIY spot “Skatesville”.
What makes this DIY special is that the skateboarders not only have permission to build and skate, but also Chris Griffith, with the 501c3 nonprofit “Live to Skate” has a formal 20 year lease on the SHA owned property.
Chris received the blessing to begin building in May of 2024, and immediately reached out to the community for help. Dario Rocha, who had recently moved to Statesville, came to lend a hand and has been at this foundation spot building almost every day since. The support from others in the community has been overwhelming. Almost immediately there was an army of eager skateboarders, as well as many concrete tradesmen and other skilled laborers who do not necessarily skate, but shared in the enthusiasm and have donated extraordinary amounts of energy and materials. Local business Eagle Rentals has been gracious enough to provide forklifts, jackhammers, concrete mixers, etc. to the group free of charge. When a prefab metal park a few towns over shut down and put their ramps up for auction, SHA jumped in and purchased the ramps and had them delivered to Skatesville.
With all the community support, rapid building began immediately and in less than two months Skatesville had its official grand opening with hundreds of skateboarders and community leaders in attendance. The building has continued, the property has a lot of space for development and expansion. SHA is currently building out a space for public restrooms. There are ambitious plans for concrete bowls of various sizes as fundraising efforts continue. Skatesville has quickly become a staple of the city, a true home base for the locals, and a hub for skateboarders from surrounding areas to visit, connect, and share in the stoke.
