our partners
Pathways for Keene
City of Keene
Monadnock Economic Development
Keene State College
Healthy Monadnock
Friends of Public Art
Keene Housing Kids Collaborative
skatepark experiences
Keene Skatepark fundraising gets boost from skater's foundation
By Sentinel Staff Apr 2, 2019
The effort to build a new Keene Skatepark on Gilbo Avenue recently received a boost from a legendary name in skateboarding.
The Tony Hawk Foundation awarded the park $10,000, according to a news release from the skatepark project organizers. The fundraising total now stands at $95,000, nearly a third of the way to the $300,000 goal for the park’s makeover.
The city of Keene has also included $25,000 in the capital improvement program for fiscal year 2020 to go toward the skate park, which was first established on 9,800 square feet of space in a Gilbo Avenue parking lot in 1997.
For information or to donate, contact project coordinator Kathleen Burke at kathleenburke82@gmail.com; Andy Bohannon at 357-9829 or go to keeneskatepark.com
Project update: Latest plans call for Keene Skatepark to move, expand
By Olivia Belanger Sentinel Staff Oct 13, 2019
The proposed new Keene Skatepark is now bigger than in earlier plans, according to Project Coordinator Kathleen Burke.
Plans now call for the 9,800-square-foot park on Gilbo Avenue, previously slated for an overhaul, to move to the corner of School Street and Gilbo Avenue as part of the Monadnock Economic Development Corp.’s proposed arts corridor, Burke said.
The corridor would stretch along Gilbo Avenue between Main Street and School Street, extend to the Railroad Square area on the other side of Main, and include an outdoor performance space, space for artists to live and work and a welcome center.
Keene State College owns the lot, and even if the corridor doesn’t happen, would still allow the skatepark on the land, Burke said.
The new park would be a poured concrete facility, which Burke said is inexpensive to maintain. The current skatepark, made of plywood and metal sheeting, would be torn down.
With more space allotted for the project, Burke said the envisioned skatepark has expanded to between 12,000 and 15,000 square feet. The fundraising goal has also increased, from $300,000 to $325,000, to account for the bigger space.
As of Thursday, Burke said the project has raised $110,000 of its goal, and is still waiting to hear back on a few “very big donations.”
“We believe by the end of the year we should’ve met our fundraising goal,” Burke said.
If the goal is reached by then, she said the park will be designed this winter and built in the summer of 2020.
Anyone wanting to make a donation can visit www.keeneskatepark.com or make a check out to Pathways for Keene — Keene Skatepark and send it to P.O. Box 226, Keene, NH 03431.
Keene Kiwanis Club donates $5,000 to skate park project
By Sentinel Staff Dec 22, 2018
The project to upgrade Keene’s skate park recently received a financial boost from a local organization.
The Keene Kiwanis Club donated $5,000 to Keene Skatepark, a group of area residents seeking to overhaul the approximately 20-year-old facility on Gilbo Avenue, according to a Thursday news release.
The donation will go toward the $300,000 the group looks to raise to pay for a new poured-concrete skate park to replace the existing city-owned facility, which includes aging wood platforms and steel ramps, some of which date back to the late 1990s.
“This is a substantial donation for the Kiwanis Club and we are very grateful for their generous support,” project coordinator Kathy Burke said in the release. “We hope this encourages others to consider donating to this effort to provide a safe, legal space for skateboarders and BMX riders.”