11-year dream becomes reality as Colfax opens new skate park
What started with kids skating on sidewalks is now a new gathering place for Colfax
COLFAX, Calif. —
After more than a decade of planning, fundraising and community support, a new skate park is officially open in Colfax.
The Colfax Skate Park opened Saturday, giving skateboarders, BMX riders and scooter riders a dedicated place to ride.
For Ty Conners, who spearheaded the effort, opening day was 11 years in the making.
Conners told KCRA 3 the idea began while he was working in local law enforcement and receiving complaints about children skateboarding on sidewalks.
“I was getting a lot of complaints about kids skateboarding on the sidewalks, and that’s what kind of kick-started it,” Conners said.
Conners joined the nonprofit Colfax Green Machine and began researching what it would take to build a skate park.
“I looked at Tony Hawk’s foundation. How do you start a park? And then you just start from there,” Conners said. “Look what happened 11 years later.”
According to the City of Colfax, the skate park had been discussed for decades before the City Council approved moving forward with plans for the Parkhill Drive site in March 2021. The council later approved plans for the park in July 2025.
The city said the design process included input from both young people and adults and was spearheaded by Conners. The park was designed to accommodate skateboards, scooters and BMX bikes.
The project was funded through a combination of public money, community fundraising and in-kind contributions. The city secured a $175,000 Community Development Grant, while Placer County Parks and Recreation allocated $75,000. Colfax Green Machine raised more than $100,000 through community fundraising, according to the city.
Businesses also donated materials and services to help bring the project together.
Crystal Howard, executive director of Skate4Concrete, told KCRA 3 that all of the concrete used for the park was donated.
“Everybody in the industry had a tie to Colfax in some way,” Howard said. “They saw the need. They love to give back to the communities that they serve.”
For brothers Jackson and Dallas Bowen, the new park means they no longer have to travel as far to skate.
“We used to have to drive down to Auburn,” Jackson said.
Dallas said having a park in their own community will give them more opportunities to practice and “get better and better.”
Looking across the crowded park Saturday, Conners told KCRA 3 the finished product was what he had imagined.
“This was totally the vision,” he said.
Conners credited the community with making that vision possible.
“It was a village. It’s not just me,” Conners said. “I was the gas, but the rest of the car was everyone else.”
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