After three months of hand-troweling and smoothing the concrete at the new skate park, Stefan Hauser enjoys the fruits of his labors.

SEASIDE – Couple a grassroots campaign with lasting commitment and you get a skate park.

Or at least Seaside does.

Saturday will mark the end of a 22-year push to build a new skate park in the Broadway Park area with drop-ins beginning at noon and including a 45-minute skating exhibition by a Vox Shoes-sponsored professional skating team and performances by local bands.

Locals have been the catalyst for the project from its inception – attending public hearings, Seaside City Council meetings and grant request presentations – to make their passion for the park promised by the city a reality.

Park designer Stefan Hauser is a Portland native who has been skateboarding for 21 years, and has traveled the globe building skate parks in Sweden, Puerto Rico and Austria.

“I wanted to make a timeless design,” said Hauser. “I tried to think about what I’d want in a park but make it well-rounded.”

Because of constraints of the area, the park is about two-thirds bowls and one-third street, but there is room for additions should the community want the park to change in the years to come. It is meticulous work building a concrete park and involves hand-troweling every rideable inch. The troweling process begins when the concrete is poured and ends with the nicks and nubs being scraped off after the concrete has set.

“We’ve spent three months troweling,” said Hauser.

While Hauser’s experience with the park has been based in a passion for the sport and a knowledge of park construction, honed over the last eight years, others have been involved generating funding and public support.

“We went to Oregon State Parks in the mid-80s asking for funding,” said Sunset Empire Park and Recreation District General Manager Mary Blake. The proposal was turned down because of the perceived liability of someone being injured on public property.

Blake returned to Seaside and teamed up with Tom Inouye to build a park. The first incarnation of the park, Skate Wally World, was little more than a few halfpipes behind the pool building but it quickly became an attraction for local skaters. After it was built, a pole barn was erected around it, creating an indoor park. After a time the park was vandalized and closed.

“Skating had sort of dropped off,” said Blake. “The industry and Tony Hawk brought it back.”

With the resurgence in popularity, a meeting was held at Broadway Middle School to get a feel for whether or not a skate park was wanted or needed.

“Hundreds of kids showed up,” said Blake.

Portland native Stefan Hauser, right, talks with friends as they get a feel for riding the Seaside Skate ‘N Ride Park. Hauser has built skate parks in Sweden, Puerto Rico and Austria.Blake again approached Oregon State Parks to find funding for the park and was again turned down.

“When you’re working on a grassroots level for a long time, it’s difficult to keep it going,” said Blake.

Two years ago, a high school student named Angela Fairless arrived at the regular board meeting of the Sunset Empire Park and Recreation District to ask questions about the skate park and why it had not yet been realized.

“I was so clueless,” said Fairless. She hoped to make the skate park a summer project because another volunteer program she worked with had taken the summer off.

The Seaside Skate ‘N Ride Park layout is two-thirds bowls and one-third street skating because of room constraints, though there is room for future additions.Blake and Fairless took the proposal to the Oregon State Parks committee one more time in 2006, hoping for a grant from lottery dollars to fund the project and were awarded $187,500.

When the city began the project, putting the retaining wall out to bid, they received one bid for $225,000. They turned it down.

That’s where Hauser, his crew and many other local participants came in.

“We have tried to keep it local,” said Blake. “Stefan is a local guy, some of the other guys on the crew are locals, and we’ve tried to sub-contract to companies within 100 miles.”

A miniature conceptual design of the new skate park was molded out of clay by park designer Stefan Hauser. The model is roughly inches by 12 inches and depicts a slightly different layout than what has been built, but was a starting point for Sunset Empire Park and Recreation District General Manager Mary Blake. ‘I used to carry it around in my car and say, ‘this is what it will look like,’ she said.For those who have been involved with the project there are rewards beyond having a new facility. The construction crew members will each receive the skateboard of their dreams. Those who have donated $1,000 or more to the project will receive a hand-painted skateboard deck in appreciation for their generosity.

Saturday’s grand opening will mark a completion of a cycle for many of those involved in the project, and Blake contends those with the most investment will be the ones who gain the most benefit.

“Only when it becomes part of our lives is it felt,” said Blake.

1985 – The idea of a public skate park is introduced by Ian Smith and his mother.

1988 – First grant proposal is made to Oregon State Parks and Recreation, the first skate park request at the State Parks level.

This panoramic photo taken May 22 shows the last stages of construction aon the Seaside Skate ‘N Ride Park. Submitted photo by Linda Andres.1989-90 – Tom Inouye approaches the District and proposes building a masonite double ramp with a spin. SEPRD asks the city for the use of the land and support to go forward.

1990-2002 – SEPRD owns and operates Skate Wally World, the first indoor public run facility.

2002 – Skate Wally World is closed and dismantled because of abuse at the park: tagging, fire and evidence of alcohol and drugs.

The skeleton of the Seaside Skate ‘N Ride Park takes shape over a fedw rainy weeks in April and May 2007. Photo by Jeff Jarrett. Used with permission.2003 – SEPRD starts working with Stefan Hauser, designer, and Lexie Hallihan, volunteer, to design and build a world class outdoor park.

2003 – City and SEPRD apply for the Oregon State Parks and Recreation grant program. Request is denied because Seaside has yet to establish a Parks Master Plan.

2005 – Angela Fairless follows the story of the skate park and attends a SEPRD board meeting to find out how she could help make the park a reality. A re-energized, grass roots effort is started June 14, 2005.

Cement workers used their entire bag of tricks to make the riding surfaces as smooth as possible. Photo by Jeff Jarrett. Used with permission.2006 – A community presentation is given to the Oregon State Parks and Recreation grant program June 11. Proposal is approved and the skate park is awarded $187,500.

2006 – The proposal goes out to bid in September; however, the only responding contractor comes in too high for the project. SEPRD takes on the project, hires staff who are also skaters and BMXers to do the work, asks for community support and builds community with the project.

2007 – The skate park opens for community use June 9.

Use the skate park?

Thank these people the next time you see them:

Designer and construction crew:

Stefan Hauser, Astoria

Aaron Hartman, Seaside

Joel Smith, Seaside

Jess Hebert, Seaside

Airic Saucedo, Seaside

Leaf Geraghty, Seaside

Tim Tice, Portland

Mike Tabor, Seaside

Mike Swim, Portland/Seattle

Jake Terrill, of Seaside, grinds along metal coping above one of the many bowls at the Seaside Skate ‘N Ride Park next to the Broadway Field, while finishing construction touches are wrapped up in the background.Sunset Empire Park and Recreation District employees:

Mike Marshal

Craig Kennedy

Genesse Dennis

Ron Bailey

Local business owners or city employees whose time was donated to the project:

Neal Wallace

Ben E. Olsen

Craig Mespelt

E.C. Wadsworth

Terry Bush

Travis Owsley

Landscape architect who has donated his time:

Tom Chatterton