Evanston Skate Park brings FroSkate and a vibrant community to the city

Last week, three events brought people together at the Evanston Skate Park in Twiggs Park. It was arguably the most intense program since the grand opening on May 27 and demonstrated that the park is achieving its goal of becoming an inclusive community gathering place.

On Thursday evening, as the sun went down, the skate park was full with about 50 skaters for the Subscribe “Meetup in August.” All over the park, skaters of all levels stormed the ramps, met friends, and stopped by the skate group tables for free coaching, snacks, and giveaways.

“I definitely see some familiar faces from other froSkate events,” said Randi Rogers, who volunteered to help at a table with free snacks and froSkate merchandise. “But also a lot of new faces, and that’s what we always want to do: encourage new people to come along and meet some friends. Maybe just try it out with a group of people who look like you.”

Organizers, skaters and community members gathered around tables holding banners reading “All love, no hate, froSkate. Creating space for BIPOC femme, queer, trans and ENBY (non-binary) skaters since 2019.” The collective was founded in 2019 by Karlie Thornton and started as a group of friends who wanted to start a skate community.

Now froSkate has held over a hundred meetings and is celebrating the anniversary of a Nike deal for the exclusive “Dunk” shoe. This was the first time the organization hosted an event at the new Evanston Skate Park.

Bella (pronounced “bay-ya”) Garcia, a co-leader of Thursday’s event, said she joined froSkate in 2020 during the Black Lives Matter protests to get involved and create change in the community.

“It fits with my values ​​and beliefs in politics and activism. But I’m doing it with skateboarding, and I think skateboarding needs that,” said Garcia, who reminded attendees in an announcement to make space for feminine and queer skaters in the park. “I think we need these meetings to make space for black and brown people, because that’s important. Black skaters matter.”

“A lot of the kids I teach come from all over, all different types of kids. I’ve even had kids who identify as ‘they/them,’ and I have black and brown skaters,” Garcia said. “So I want to teach them everything I learned at froSkate, as a skate instructor at Little Rippers. And I want them to feel safe and comfortable and confident.”