Sunshine Brings Out Lebanon’s Skate Park Community

Spring may have gotten off to a dry and dusty start, but the April sunshine was perfect weather for fans of the Rusty Berrings Skate Park at West Lebanon’s Riverside Community Park. As the sun chases away the last of the chill, adults, teens, young children, and families make use of what’s become a regional hub for a supportive and generous culture.

“We’ve been here four times this week,” says Cassandra Rossing, corralling four kids, all wearing helmets and ready for action. “It’s a really great community.” Her husband Michael agrees and adds, “It’s one of the nicest free public parks I’ve ever been to.”

The Rossing family

The concrete ramps and steel rails host an eclectic crew: adults Marcus and Brian practice their 50-50 grinds and frontside noseslides while a beanied teen named Gray works on ollieing onto a ledge. When asked about photos, Marcus laughs: “so long as you don’t mind them all being of me falling.” Another teen, Jacob, offers to demonstrate wheelies, then crosses the length of the park on his bike – using only the rear wheel. Smaller children do laps on scooters while their adults sit at picnic tables.

“It’s a great culture,” says Jess Morin, alternately watching the kids play and arbitrating disputes about exactly whose scooter belongs to whom. She’s brought her family up from Cornish for the afternoon to use the park. Last year, her daughter, then brand new to skateboarding, was frustrated and getting ready to leave when a group of anonymous teens showed up. One in particular offered some free lessons: “She actually strapped her up in her own brand new equipment,” Morin says, “and she taught her for like 45 minutes.” She didn’t get the good Samaritan’s name, but it really shaped her perceptions of the park and the kind of people that use it. “It was a real ‘restore my faith in humanity’ moment.”

Brian practicing his “50-50 grind”

It’s a story that gets to the heart of the culture of the park, which itself wouldn’t exist without the generosity of the community – especially that of the Kirschner family, who, in memory of their son Tyler, raised much of the funding to make the park into what it is today. In fact, the park’s name, “Rusty Berrings”, was – in the fashion of skateboarding greats Birdman, Ragdoll, and Wee Man – Tyler Kirschner’s skateboarding nickname. When it came time to upgrade and revitalize the park from the old wooden ramps into something new, the family acted as the skate park’s “angels,” according to Paul Coats, director of Recreation, Arts, and Parks for the City of Lebanon.

That culture of generosity also extends to our relationship with our neighboring communities. “It’s a regional park,” says Coats. “People from neighboring towns are coming to Lebanon to skate – and that’s the way it should be. Just as much as people in Lebanon are going to other towns to do other things. There’s not really a beach in Lebanon at [Mascoma] Lake, so people are typically going to Enfield to do that, or they’re getting in the Connecticut River via Hanover or Hartford’s waterfront. They’re going to other communities for the dog parks because Lebanon doesn’t have that. So it’s good to see a regional approach to a lot of the recreation that happens – and we get the skate park.”

It isn’t just Lebanon’s neighbors coming to use the park. For anything close to the same experience, skaters have to travel as far afield as Burlington, Manchester, and Nashua, which probably explains why it’s the city’s most used “non-programmed” park. “We put a lot of kids in Civic Park and Eldridge Park,” Coats says, “because we have sports being played there. Colburn Park is mostly a pass-through park…but Riverside Park, as far as people seeking recreation, that’s where they’re going.”

Marcus practicing his “frontslide noseslide”

As the sun goes down the park lights up, its hours extended by the relatively recent addition of lighting to help out in the shoulder seasons. Despite all the people still using it, Rusty Berrings Skate Park isn’t even “finished” – if a living park can ever be considered really done. The most recent addition was some beginner areas, but there are plans for more expansions. Ideally, they’d like to pave the floor of the pavilion (“We’re not trying to make the pavilion skatable,” Coats says, laughing, “but they will skate in there.”) and there are plans for the addition of another “bowl” as well, not to mention the planned extension of the Mascoma River Greenway to connect the park with the Powerhouse Mall, Miracle Mile and parts beyond.

Watching everyone from kids to adults use it together, it’s clear that Rusty Berrings Skate Park is a place for all – from first-timers to four-day-a-week families, more seasoned skaters to those new to the sport. It’s more than just a community resource –  it’s a home for a culture, one with generosity and support at its heart.

Any kind souls wishing to donate toward additions to the park can contact the nonprofit Friends of Lebanon Recreation, Arts, and Parks (FoLRAP): friendsoflebrec.org.

Teenager Jacob Hoisington demonstrating a wheelie