Local stunt riders team up with city, Lyons to improve skate park

Published 9:51 am Tuesday, July 12, 2016

As someone who has visited the concrete park since he was 15, Dowagiac’s Tyler Hill knows all the slopes, ramps and curves of the city’s skate park like the back of his hand.

Over the last several weeks, though, Hill and his friends have carried more than just their bikes and skateboards to grounds — but also cans of paint, lumber, shovels and other tools.

The Dowagiac man is leading efforts to improve the aging skate park, working with friends, family and even city hall and local businesses to update the 15-year-old park grounds. Hill and other volunteers are working to build new ramps and a dirt course on the site, as well as make some repairs to the existing concrete structures and remove graffiti that has marred the original artwork located on the ramps.

The group is looking complete most of the work by month’s end, in time for the annual BMX show Hill organizes at the park, he said.

For Hill, whose uncle, Jim Rosenthal, got him into the BMX bike riding, the Dowagiac skate park, located inside Rotary Park on Riverview Drive, has been a major part of his life for years.

“I spent years up here,” Hill said. “I was coming up here every day after school, staying until the lights shut off.”

Over last several years, the Dowagiac man has been coming up with ideas on how to improve the park, which has seen in a decline in use, especially among younger riders, whose parents are turned off by the appearance of the park, Hill said.

“That is something I would like to see come back to the scene,” he said. “It is why I want to help improve the skate park, to make it a better environment for children.”

He didn’t know how to turn his ambitions into reality, though — that is, until Hill had chance encounter with Lyons Industry President Lance Lyons, who visited the park one night after having dinner with an old friend.

Hill, who was using the park at the time, had a chance to talk with Lyons — himself a former BMX rider who helped establish the Dowagiac skate park —telling him about his ideas for improving the local park.

In response, Lyons volunteered to help out, first connecting Hill with Dowagiac City Manager Kevin Anderson, who agreed to donate material for the new dirt course. Lyons also paid for a contractor to come in and do some repairs to the concrete, he said.

“It’s a dream come true to have a skate park here in Dowagiac that a lot of people still use and love,” Lyons said. “There’s a 15-year-old in me that gets so excited whenever I see people using it.”

Hill’s efforts are also being bolstered by Hale’s Hardware and Judd Lumber, he said.

The Dowagiac man is hoping that, with the new equipment and dirt course, a greater variety of BMX riders, skateboard riders and others will be drawn to the course — not just here from Dowagiac, but from all over the area, Hill said.

“We want this to be a place where people from all over can ride,” he said.

Hill is asking for assistance from anyone with machinery that can push dirt to help with the project, as well interested artists to paint new artwork for the concrete course. People can contact Hill at tylerbhill.21@gmail.com.