Interview with Mike Watkins, and Thomas Reese

 

Mike Watkins: I work for Milton-Freewater. I write grants and do economic community development, we have all kinds of different projects that we do within the city and the skatepark was one of the finest projects we put together here in the last year.

 

 Dan Hughes: Finest, why?

 

 Mike Watkins: Because there was need for it, there was a lot of youth that wanted a skatepark, people were fed up with the skaters being on the sidewalks, skating the rails and stairs and the churches. So we looked into building a skatepark. And, at first we were looking at a flat slab because we had an extra tennis court and so a pre-fab park was a viable option but, we decided that was not a way for us to go.

 We wanted to be a semi-destination. We looked at what Walla Walla had done, they have a flat pad with obstacles on it, but they have a great BMX track, and we couldn't compete with them with the BMX track, so we went a different way with the skatepark, and went with Dreamland and built this pool. We did it that way, because we wanted to challenge the kids. We wanted to spark interest, we didn't want them to get bored with something real quick, and not use it, so we went big and technical with the first phase, and now with the second phase we're looking into more of a street type project.

 

Dan Hughes: What drew you away from a modular "Temporary" park?

 

 Mike Watkins: That's exactly right, it is a temporary park. I skated way back when, and I remember we had just wooden quarter pipes. And there was only so much that you can do with those. So that was in the back of my mind, and of course I talked with Thomas and the skaters here and the kids. It's like anything; you don't let a kid get bored with what they are doing. Challenge them, and they rise to the top. So, we went and talked with Dreamland, Mark and his crew were great, they did a good job.

 

 Dan Hughes: How did you learn about Dreamland?

 

Mike Watkins: I was in Salem. I looked at the park that the public works in Salem put together. I asked the kids there in Salem, what kind of park they liked. Did they like that park? They said you need to go out to Aumsville. So I drove out there. Aumsville is like the Taj Mahal to me, that is an awesome park. And that's when I said, ok, that's what I want. So we went that way.

 

Dan Hughes: How much money did you guys have to work with?

 

 Mike Watkins: Funds are always short in a small town. We ended up with probably 15-20 thousand. The city of Milton-Freewater has been extremely helpful. They put money towards the project, and I believe that the first phase was around 30-34 thousand, which is what we paid for it. I'm sure Mark Scott (Dreamland) aren't getting rich off this project. But they are committed to putting some good skateparks out there.

 

 Dan Hughes: Do you know that people come through here to go to Hailey Idaho to skate?

 

 Mike Watkins: That was brought up in the planning, Thomas brought up the point that from Hood River to Hailey Idaho there was nothing, so we wanted something that they would actually feel like it was worth coming off Interstate 84 to come up through here to stop and skate. That was a big point.

 

Thomas Reese: What's your vision for the future?

 

 Mike Watkins: I don't see any end to any phases. I would love to keep adding on. We've got the second phase in the works right now, with street obstacles. To open it up, to a wider variety of skaters. I don't see it stopping, as long as there are kids using it. As long as there is interest. I'd like to just keep building. And people keep coming up with new ideas, and new tricks and when they start doing back flips on motorcycles and bicycles, you watch they will be doing it on skateboards too.

 

 So, as long as there's a need, I can see us just keep building. I can see phase three, phase four, and so on. Why stop?

 

 Dan Hughes: Since the bowl has been built, has the skating of the rails and stairs stopped?

 

 Mike Watkins: It's slowed down, but it hasn't stopped. That's probably the biggest push, and the biggest need for the second phase. And people are realizing it. We've got a local leadership group, that's jumping on board and they want to a play a part in this second phase only because they see the need now. Before when we were advocating, trying to get somebody to build a first phase, it's hard we had nothing to rely on, nothing to show, but now that we have kids using this park everyday. It's easier for the public to drive by this park and say hey look.

 

Dan Hughes: So you notice the park being used?

 

Mike Watkins: Oh, everyday!

 

Dan Hughes: Given the square footage of the bowl, 1700 square feet, what other park land of that size is used as much?

 

 Mike Watkins: Maybe the public pool, in the middle of the day, when it's 110 degrees outside. I don't see anything get used as much. It's amazing; I'm so impressed with the kids of our community, the business owners of our community stepped up. We've had other projects spin off this first phase. We were able to put "The lids for kids" project together, where we passed out, to date, 230-240 helmets for the kids of our community. This was all done by donated funds, they saw the kids needed helmets and felt strongly enough to donate their hard earned cash. You know different projects are spun off a single one.

 

 Dan Hughes: Have you noticed people coming to your town just because of the skatepark?

 

 Mike Watkins: It's pretty amazing. We do have groups come through. I heard that there was a group from Hawaii that came through and they've talked about being here on their internet site www.50-50.com. There was a young man who found us on the internet, from Sussex England, who wanted to know where Milton-Freewater, Oregon was.

 So that's just a small piece of this whole project. It's just amazing.

 

 Dan Hughes: So, have you noticed it bring any money in, or how do you quantify that?

 

 Mike Watkins: I don't know how you would do that. But it happens. You're going to pick up here and there. It's the same as a baseball or softball or soccer tournament. As long as you draw people in, this is just another slice of that pie.

 

 Dan Hughes: Seems like this skatepark has revitalized this park, giving kids something positive to do.

 

 Mike Watkins: Location is also a big one for us. This "Freewater Park" is on the northern end of town. We have another park that's a little bigger it's called Ganis Park [?] that's where the aquatic center is, there's some swing sets. Freewater Park was kind of a second rate park, by comparison. Now, because of the skatepark, Freewater park is used just as much, if not more than Ganis park on a daily basis.

 And back to the economics. Since the construction of this park, we've also got a brand new skateboard shop in town. Hectic Skateboards came to Milton-Freewater because they saw we were building a park. And there were kids here and they needed skateboards and they have been awesome! And every event they put on, or we put on, they have been huge sponsors. I can't say enough about the help I get.

 From Thomas to Hector to the girls in the office, to the city council, to support from the city as a whole.

 

 Thomas Reese: I would like to interject, that just like most of the communities in eastern Oregon and Eastern Washington, this town has an enormous problem with Crystal Meth. And this bowl is the cure for that! For so many kids, this will channel their energy and they really get into it. If the city doesn't provide these sorts of avenues, people are left to their own devices, they fall, and they fall into all sorts of bad habits. This is a productive thing for them to do.

 

 Dan Hughes: If you're not challenging the kids, they will look for challenges somewhere.

 

 Mike Watkins: You brought up a good point about challenging kids. Not all kids are team sport type kids. But, I must say even though you ride your skateboard by yourself I have never seen a group of kid's root for another skater as much as these kids do. I mean, it doesn't matter what they are doing or the trick or the age, when they are in that bowl, everyone around the outside is rooting for them. And, what better team is that?

 Unlike team sports, there are no losers, everyone's a winner. The community, kids, everyone, it's a win win situation.

 

 Dan Hughes: Any final comments?

 

Mike Watkins: I'd like to say that I've received great support. From the support of my boss, the City Council and everyone else.

 For example, projects, like the Fakies were coming in today, we had one week to hammer out our power, you know, where are we going to plug them in and stuff. None of these plugs were here a week ago.

 So, I talked with the electric superintendent, this week, and they had the line department run the wires over here. Then public works had their electrician come out and put sockets in, and breakers. Just for this event, and because we knew we were going to run into this time after time, and year after year.

 And that's just one example of the kind of support we are getting now. It's like, "OK, we need this." " No problem..."

 Not only that, but people are coming out of the woodwork now. I get this, "Hey, I've done finish work before", or "My buddy's got a back hoe." Everyone wants "In" now.

 

 Dan Hughes: So, you build the park, and it's just started to snowball.

 

 Mike Watkins: That's what it does.