The Village Skatepark, located in the West Atlanta neighborhood Bankhead, has been relatively hidden. A new program is trying to change that. (Julien Virgin/WABE)
This story was updated on Thursday, Oct. 17, 2024 at 5:31 p.m.
Inside an industrial warehouse, a group of kids and adults rides on bikes, boards and skates.
Village Skatepark, is an indoor skate park that operates as a recreation center in the West Atlanta neighborhood of Bankhead.
The facility spans 17,000 square feet with 90-foot-high ceilings.
The Village Skatepark ATL is a 1,700-square foot indoor skatepark in Bankhead. (Julien Virgin/WABE)
Takarais Art, or TK, founded the park in 2022. He began riding BMX bikes at 13 and said skateparks have always represented freedom.
“There’s no real wrong way to be at a skate park and to ride the ramps and express yourself,” he said.
Skateparks have also taught him that he’s capable of addressing and overcoming fears head-on, Art added.
Now he can offer that to others, he said, so they can “receive the gift that I got from being at the skate park.”
Village Skatepark is located on Donald Lee Hollowell Parkway. (Julien Virgin/WABE)
Village Skatepark is located on Atlanta’s busy Donald Lee Hollowell Parkway. But, till now, it’s been fairly hidden among the other old, street art-covered industrial buildings.
“There is this narrative that it is vacant here, and we are here to elevate the visibility of the skatepark,” said Roshani Thakore, the director of community engagement and culture at the Atlanta Regional Commission.
The organization partnered with Village Skatepark in a community design and planning program ahead of planned Atlanta Beltline development in the neighborhood.
In May, Atlanta Beltline Inc. announced plans to create around 3,300 housing units, a 123,000-square-foot commercial village, and other greenspaces and trails near MARTA’s Bankhead station, according to Urbanize Atlanta.
Together, artists and volunteers designed and installed a larger-than-life bright yellow skateboard-shaped sign to invite the community to the skatepark.
Village Skatepark and the Atlanta Regional Commission partnered to bring more visibility to the Bankhead skatepark by installing a new yellow, skateboard-shaped sign. (Julien Virgin/WABE)
“We all did this together collectively to elevate the culture here and to show to the people that are doing development for the Beltline and all this other stuff that there’s actually a lot of richness happening here,” Thakore said.
She said the skatepark serves an important role in the Bankhead community, such as offering youth programs, partnering with local programs to provide food and hosting workshops and neighborhood meetings.
“They’re an important part of this community and we don’t want them to disappear,” Thakore said.
Max Kollman works at Village Skatepark as the director of programming, aiming to provide hands-on education and useful skills. Each Sunday, the facility host a sewing circle, as riding tends to rip clothing.
Village Skatepark offers a variety of programming, including a sewing circle that helps skaters learn how to repair clothes that tear while skating. (Julien Virgin/WABE)
Kollman said he lives for the “wow” moment people experience when they learn something new.
“I’m proud of bringing out people’s inner child, no matter how old they are, and creating a safe space for them to explore and experiment with new stuff,” Kollman said.
Kollman said the purpose of the initiative is to “keep Bankhead special.”
“It’s not about making the place; it’s about keeping it,” he said.
Village Skate Park is open Thursday through Sunday from 3 p.m. to 11 p.m.
WABE’s Meimei Xu contributed to this report.
Correction: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated the square footage of the skatepark. In fact, it is 17,000 square feet.
