BEST SKATEPARK - Kona Skate Park
<< click image to enlarge

Skateboarding is still not a crime. In fact, in certain circles around Northeast Florida, skaters have gained a measure of respect. As in most suburbs around the country, parking lots, drainage ditches and library steps remain popular destinations for skaters young and younger. But the place local skaters get vert most often is Arlington's Kona Skate Park.

Selected this year's Best Skate Park, Kona offers a totally skatable terrain and a wide variety of events involving all things skate. The park was listed as one of skateboarding legend Tony Hawk's five favorite skate parks in USA Weekend Magazine and was also honored in 2002 when Hawk chose Kona to be featured in his latest skateboarding video game for Activision.

At Kona you can skate the snake run or the concrete section. The pool brings back the Dogtown years, and the vertical frame and mini-ramp recall early '90s. There is also a modern street course and a children's section.

Kona's history is quite a ride as well. The park was originally saved from bankruptcy when purchased back in 1978 by the parents of current owner Martin Ramos. The park thrived as skateboarding took off in the mid- to late-'80s, but suffered financially in the early 1990s as the industry began to struggle.

"My parents had to sell off everything they had to keep it alive," says Ramos. "It was a labor of love and more of an emotional decision to keep the park going, not a financial one." Ramos officially took over the park in 1996 following the death of his father, and worked to preserve the philosophy his mother and father fostered for nearly 20 years. Kona has weathered the ups and downs of a fluctuating industry and has now opened its second facility in Daytona Beach.

Reportedly the nation's oldest continuously running skate park, Kona caters to kids who are "not the typical athletic" kind, says Ramos. "[These are] kids who have trouble fitting in other places, except for Kona." When asked about the future of skateboarding and Kona, Ramos says he is staying put and hoping to grow. "I have heard kids say that Kona saved their life," says Ramos, "After 25 years, you don't realize how you might have changed people."

Click here for a larger image of the article.