A great photo donated by Kris Bradly. In the picture are kris bradley, shawn hetrick, ryan felmlee, nick felmlee, jason hetrick. Ryan and Nick being the son of councilman Jim Felmlee one of those that voted against the skate park, ironic? These kids grew up to be just fine despite being a skateboarder. It just goes to show you that skateboarders are not just all bad and there is a sterotype applied to them. Skateboarding takes a lot of skill and dedication to do and that will influence any kid for their rest of their lives.

LewistownSkatePark.com aka LSP is a site for supporters of the skatepark that the citizens of Lewistown, Pa and surrounding area want to get built and with your help, we can make it a reality.

Young, old, otherwise a skatepark benefits everyone. It brings those in the sport of skateboarding and BMX riding to a place to test and tone their skills. It gets them off the streets and into one place that is far safer then riding your local curb.

In 2007 there were over 13-million skateboarders in the US (according to SGMA.)  93.7% are younger than 24.  When one considers that there are about 80-million people in the United States between the ages of 5 and 24 (according to U.S. Census Bureau), it suggests that 1 out of every 7 youth in the nation are skateboarders.  In communities where health and physical activity is an important social value, the number of skateboarding youth may be much higher.  Similarly, in communities that support their skateboarders with sustainable skateparks, the skaters tend to remain active for longer peiods of time.  Participation statistics demonstrate that this level has been consistent for the past 15 years (U.S. Census Bureau.)  And still, there are only about 2,500 skateparks nationwide to accommodate 13-million skateboarders.

Some Other Quick Facts:

• The average skateboarder is between 7-16 years olds.
• Almost all skateboarding accidents happen on the streets, not in parks, with a high percentage involving motor vehicles.
• Irregular riding surfaces account for over 50% of all injuries to skateboarders.
• Skateparks with smooth surfaces and protective gear requirements have a very low injury rate.
• Youth ages 12-17 who are frequently bored are 50% more likely than those not often bored to smoke, drink, get drunk, and use illegal drugs.
• Fourteen and under, less than 1% would use drugs while skateboarding, in-line skating or freestyle biking and all prefer their sport to drugs.
  
• Studies show that a Skatepark has no more noise than the ambient surrounding noises that exist in other parks and is not nearly as noisy as a baseball park.