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Sunland Park's skate plaza opens

Can you dig it? Big stairs, burly gaps and rails galore - welcome to the wild, wild west of street skating!

The much-anticipated Sunland Park Skate Plaza officially opened to the public on June 11, 2011 with mariachi flare to make a dude like Pancho Villa proud (he used to prowl these parts ya know!)

Want the grand opening recap? Philly B was there and tells the story here on Chuco Fresh.

The plaza is located at 4800 McNutt adjacent to Santa Teresa Middle School. It's free and open daily from 7am to 10pm with lights.

Honestly, it was a long game of W-A-I-T and lotsa trespassing to get here. After announcing an April 30th "soft opening" of the Sunland Park Skate Plaza, the city pulled back saying the skate plaza would remain closed until a grand opening event on June 11th.

With no plausible explanation given why a "finished" park would remain closed, skaters (and parents) were greeted by a locked gate at the sports complex and the 4-plus months of illegal "barge" skating continued for those less patient.

Numerous delays including the building of a sewer line and final payment by the State of New Mexico, slowed determination of any "official" opening date long after the concrete had cured on the 36,000 square foot skate plaza.

DNB Contractors Inc. began construction May 2010.

Shaped like the Zia on the New Mexico flag, the Dyrdek-designed, DC skate plaza is the centerpiece of a 35-acre, $4 million sports complex.

"The skate plaza is unique because it will mimic actual landmark street skating spots," according to EPSA's Gabe Lawler who helped refined the plaza blueprints with architects
from Carson & Franco.

"We took inspiration from a famous bank spot in Barcelona, Spain that has benches at the top and some of the rails mock those at the Los Angeles County Courthouse."

To dial in the heights of rails and ledges, Lawler met with local Sunland Park skaters. "We used a measuring tape and asked if it was too tall or short for them to ollie up
to."

Professional skateboarder/MTV personality Rob Dyrdek added his 2 cents and then some!

VIDEO CLIP: skate plaza night session!

The initial design concept was submitted to the Rob Drydek/DC Shoes Skate Plaza Foundation. They kept the Zia layout, but wanted to re-arrange the obstacles. Most importantly, the Foundation paid for Newline Skateparks to craft the final design, making it a state of the art facility.

"The standards for modern day skateboarding have been developed in urban architecture," says Dyrdek...Read More

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The 4th incarnation of our Skate Deck Art Show benefit was likely our best ever. Big ups to Austin Allen and The Lowbrow Palace for hosting - awesome venue!

Couldn't make the event?

We have a few deck art pieces still available for purchase at $20 each. Check out a photo gallery of what we've got left on our page.

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EPSA's role in creating the Edgemont skateable drainage project in Santa Teresa, NM is featured in the Spring 2010 issue of Concrete Wave magazine. The one page article written by the Z-man and Dr. Skateboard breaks down the build of this unique project and the possibility of using it as a model for future dual-purpose infrastructure.

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Our 17-page "Spring 2010 El Paso Public Skateparks: Safety and Maintenance Inspection" report has been submitted to the City of El Paso Parks and Recreation Department. This comprehensive photo inspection clearly illustrates the major issues at all 10 city skateparks and gives recommendations on best fixes.

After an influx of emails and Facebook messages concerning the disrepair of modular ramps in El Paso County, we took a bunch of photos and busted out this 12-page "El Paso County Public Skateparks: Safety and Maintenance Inspection - November 2011." Hard copies were hand-delivered to all of our County officials to help illustrate the dire need to fix severe hazards like surface holes, metal plate deviations and exposed screw heads a.k.a. meat hooks!

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Who Are We?

We are a group of serious skateboarders who are dedicated to the development and stewardship of safe, freely accessible public skateparks in the El Paso, Texas area. We welcome all collaborations from skateboarders and look forward to establishing partnerships throughout the city, county and state.

Sign our support petition and join the EPSA!

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BOOK 'EM DANO!

Mutt meat is truly underrated. Just ask author/ex-El Paso skateshop owner Terry McChesney who penned a heroic, action-packed skateboard novel based in El Paso/Juarez. With endorsements from Brian Brannon of JFA and Thrasher Mag and Cedric Bixler Zavala of the Mars Volta, why not expand your taco tastes? Check it out at www.dogtacos.com.