© Jerimiah B. Brown

On a Roll

Skateboarders out to raise $1 million.

by James Leonard

posted 3/17/2010

The Ann Arbor Skatepark Action Committee is picking up speed. They've mobilized the base: 120 kids showed up at a city council meeting in May 2008 to voice their support. They've enlisted the Ann Arbor Area Community Foundation and Fifth Ward council members Mike Anglin and Carsten Hohnke. And they've established ties with the private sector: Vault of Midnight held an art auction last year that drew 400 people and made $9,000.

This year, "we're focusing on two big fund-raising events," says Trevor Staples, skateboarder, third-grade teacher, and AASAC chairman. "There's a two-day event on March 12 and 13 that starts with a wine tasting hosted by Morgan & York on Friday, followed Saturday afternoon by a skate jam called the Red Belly Boardshop Grinds of March with celebrity skateboarder Andy MacDonald in a warehouse at 704 Airport Plaza [see Events], then a dance that night at the Elks Club. And we're having another art sale in May at the Vault."

They're also reaching out to local philanthropists. "The whole project is for about $1 million, with a $100,000 endowment to keep it up," says Staples. "If we raise half the money, we can start phase one." The group hopes to begin construction at the northwest corner of Veterans Memorial Park this fall.   

[Originally published in March, 2010.]