Westover Skate Park improvements begin Monday; closed until mid-June

Harrisonburg Parks & Recreation will soon move forward on breathing new life into a well-used amenity at Westover Park.

The Westover Skate Park – a popular destination for skaters since its opening in 2003 – will temporarily close starting Monday, April 3, to allow crews to begin refurbishment work. Westover Skate Park will be closed until mid-June, weather-permitting.

Obstacles and jumps currently on the skate surface must be removed before crews can pour new asphalt and begin resurfacing.

Once the surface is prepared, Harrisonburg Parks & Rec will install new steel obstacles to replace the current wooden ones, while adding additional obstacles to make the Westover Skate Park even more interactive and challenging for patrons.

“Westover Skate Park truly is one of our great Parks & Rec amenities, in that on any given day you can go out and see someone learning to skate for the first time, or someone who can pull off incredible tricks because they’ve been doing this for many years,” said Harrisonburg Parks & Rec Director Brian Mancini. “We hope that this refurbishment provides a cleaner, safer experience for our learners and a new challenge for our experts. We appreciate the patience of our regular patrons as this work moves forward and we are grateful for your support of this amenity.”

Harrisonburg Parks & Rec will post notices to its social media page once a reopening date is known. Then, later this summer, lights will be installed around Westover Skate Park to improve upon the experience and extend hours the amenity can be used.

An estimated installation date is not available at this time.

The Westover Skate Park refurbishment project is made possible by the Harrisonburg City Council, which in December 2022 voted to appropriate $475,000 in federal American Rescue Plan Act funds toward the project.

Following a community engagement process that gained feedback from many in Harrisonburg about how they would like to see ARPA funds used to improve the community, a number of Parks & Rec projects were selected for funding due to their ability to enhance community spaces where people across Harrisonburg can come together.

More information on the City’s ARPA effort can be found at www.harrisonburgva.gov/ARPA.