The new Beech Street Skate Park will be hosting an opening party on Friday, Dec. 15 from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. featuring free food, music, skating, prizes and more. The park is at 31 Beech St. in Cortez.

The opening party is open to community members of all ages, and all that is required is to sign the waiver before hitting the skate park. DJ Vale Zins will be performing at 6 p.m. and another band called LO Cash Ninjas will be performing as well.

Free food will be provided, as well as the chance to win door prizes such as skating helmets, skateboards and more.

According to Annie Seder, one of the park volunteers, the skate park was created indoors by a group of skaters in the community to give people and kids in the community a chance to keep skating when it is too cold to utilize the outdoor skate park near the Cortez Recreation Center.

Seder shared with The Journal that the skate park is located in a “shared warehouse space,” and it works as a pop-up of sorts, allowing the park to be broken down and moved, as well as stored if needed.

Plans for the skate park include having scheduled nights each week people can come and skate, starting in January.

“We’re hoping to really start more of the ongoing nights in January, so we hope the community will keep an eye out for info about that,” Seder said.

While the skate park doesn’t have a website at this point in time, it does have an Instagram where organizers will keep community members informed on upcoming events, including the opening party. The Instagram handle is @beechstreet.skate.

“Tomorrow is just a chance to have the community in and for folks to see where it is and make that connection. It’s an all-ages event, and we’ll have the park set up and we’ll also have music going on and food and there will be door prizes,” Seder said. “Folks are welcome to come and skate on skateboards and quad rollerblades.”

The organizers ask that people do not bring bikes or scooters, as it will be damaging to the equipment in the park.

“People are also welcome to check out the space and enjoy the event even if they don’t want to skate,” Seder added.

The rink is “park style,” with ramps, rails and other elements to skate and practice on.

According to Seder, plans for the park began in September.

“That’s when we started dreaming it up,” Seder said. “Over the past year in particular when winter comes around, it becomes harder to use the skate park and skate outside with temperatures and precipitation and it getting dark earlier.”

The main funding for the park came from the LOR Foundation, which was given in October, allowing the building process to officially begin.

“We just have an eye on the fact that the skate park is a really important space for a lot of young people in our community,” Seder said. “Having a park that’s accessible where folks can go and hang out, especially one that doesn’t cost money. There’s not a lot of spaces for young people to hang out in Cortez.”

Local young people contributed their talents to the skate park by helping paint the different elements of the park, making the various ramps come to life.

“They’ve been dedicating hours and hours of work to it, and so I’m really excited for the community to just get to appreciate the art tomorrow because it’s pretty incredible and it’s amazing to see the talent that we have in this community,” Seder shared.

“We’ve had super amazing support from a lot of the skate shops in the area and in the region, as well as some skate companies,” Seder continued. “So we’re going to have prizes to give out to folks, and it’ll also be a chance for local skaters to get connected to the space and get plugged in.”

While skating is free, Seder said that they do suggest a $5 to $10 donation to help the skate park remain free and able to do events for the community.

Seder also thanked Four Corners Food Coalition and Good Sam’s for their work in the community and helping create spaces like the skate park, as well as the other businesses that have donated to the park.

“We are so grateful for all the Cortez businesses that donated to support the project,” Seder said. “Kokopelli Bike and Board, Slaven’s, Choice Hardware, Builder’s FirstSource and the Plumbing Store, Inc. SCYC has supported us through the build and the TeamUp Safe Spaces group donated funds to make the opening event possible.”