{"id":22142,"date":"2025-11-02T01:44:07","date_gmt":"2025-11-02T01:44:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/22142\/"},"modified":"2025-11-02T01:44:07","modified_gmt":"2025-11-02T01:44:07","slug":"wheels-hit-concrete-at-new-skate-park-in-scranton","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/22142\/","title":{"rendered":"Wheels hit concrete at new skate park in Scranton"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">SCRANTON, LACKAWANNA COUNTY (WBRE\/WYOU) \u2014 A new skate park is already rolling in big crowds, even though it\u2019s only been open a few days. The sound of wheels hitting concrete has become the new heartbeat of Scranton. With riders young and old shredding, grinding, and testing every inch of fresh pavement.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">It\u2019s the sound of freedom on four wheels. At Weston Field, skateboarders are rolling into the weekend, showing off tricks, trading boards, and soaking up the sun on Scranton\u2019s newest concrete playground.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">\u201cAll we could talk about was how they\u2019re doing this; the anticipation was there. And as soon as they opened it, we were here,\u201d Jessup resident Stephen Welsch told 28\/22 News.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Before this park opened, Lackawanna County skaters did not have a place to go. Skaters say they were often kicked off of sidewalks and told to move along.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">\u201cWe grew up where boards got taken by cops. We were mostly known as degenerates growing up. So to finally be known as a sport and a member of the community,\u201d Gabrielle Norkaitis from Lake Winola said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">That stigma is part of what fueled years of letters, petitions, and persistence. Skaters say this park isn\u2019t just concrete, it\u2019s also a victory.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\"><a class=\"link  yahoo-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.yahoo.com\/news\/articles\/local-organizations-stepping-times-032151435.html\" data-ylk=\"slk:Local organizations stepping up in times of need;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;outcm:mb_qualified_link;_E:mb_qualified_link;ct:story;\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"> Local organizations stepping up in times of need <\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">\u201cA concrete park in Scranton is something that we\u2019ve all been fighting for our whole lives. I was a little kid writing letters to the mayor, and now I\u2019m 30 years old, and we finally have it,\u201d Caleb Hartnett, co-owner of Bazaar Skate Shop in Kingston, stated.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Saturday\u2019s Break in the Skate Park event brought dozens of enthusiasts together, with food, music, and even a Halloween costume contest to keep the fall spirit alive.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">\u201cIt\u2019s amazing. It\u2019s like a therapy session. You come and hang out with all your friends, and you come here, and any problem you have, it just floats away out here,\u201d Welsch continued.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">After years of waiting, this community finally has a place where it\u2019s okay to roll, to fall, and to get back up again.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The nearly $1,000,000 skate park was funded entirely through Scranton\u2019s American Rescue Plan funds.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.2822news.com\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to 28\/22 News.;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \"> For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to 28\/22 News. <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SCRANTON, LACKAWANNA COUNTY (WBRE\/WYOU) \u2014 A new skate park is already rolling in big crowds, even though it\u2019s&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":22143,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[14951,201,178,180,179,13126,14952],"class_list":{"0":"post-22142","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-scranton","8":"tag-concrete-park","9":"tag-lackawanna-county","10":"tag-scranton","11":"tag-scranton-headlines","12":"tag-scranton-news","13":"tag-skate-park","14":"tag-stephen-welsch"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22142","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22142"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22142\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22143"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22142"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22142"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22142"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}