With the last touches being made to the skatepark in Carpenter Park, junior Isaak Kimmel said he felt excited to check it out.

“I’m really happy with the park as it is a good first free skatepark in St. Louis Park,” Kimmel said. “I think as it becomes less crowded with time, it will be a great addition and I plan to go there a lot next summer.”

Sophomore Oliver Olson said the park is something new for him, as most of his skating career has been on streets. He said these new obstacles give him opportunities he didn’t have before.

“I really enjoy the mini ramp as it is something new to skate and changes it up since I haven’t had a chance to skate it before,” Olson said.

Senior Engineering Project Manager, Phil Elkin explains his responsibilities in building the base of the park with the stormwater system as a combined effort with the parks department.

“We coordinated with the skatepark builders because of the soils and the conditions of the parks ground,  it had a high groundwater level and needed a stable base,” Elkin said “We (also) looked at the size and how much weight the skatepark would need to hold on the vault.”

Olson said although the park remains a friendly environment, one of the downsides for him is its somewhat inconvenient location.

“The space isn’t bad because there is a lot of room if they ever expand, but it could be more centralized,” Olson said.

Senior Justin Lamar said the park’s location is good for convenience’s sake as it is easily accessible.

“The location (of the park) is convenient for me because it is close to my house and to the high school, and it isn’t hard to get there for anyone wanting to go there after school,” Lamar said.

According to Olson the park is an improvement from its predecessors as it focuses on fixing the flaws of previous skateparks such as the Rec Center and Peter Hobart.

“I enjoy Carpenter a lot more because I think it has potential the Rec Center didn’t have with possible expansions if needed,” Olson said. “It’s better than the one at Peter Hobart being only a temporary fix with not great obstacles.”

Experienced skater, Justin Lamar said he is happy with the addition of Carpenter as it fits the needs for skaters that old parks didn’t along the social benefits of its addition.

“The rec center skatepark was nice and was a good place to skate for what we had at the time, but now that Carpenter is there, it will bring in a lot more people from other cities to skate and enjoy,” Lamar said.

Elkin said the addition the addition of the storm drain underneath Carpenter skatepark is beneficial.

“The design is pretty cool, it prevents the park from getting flooded, raises the grain of the soil and got rid of a lot of contaminated soil,” Elkin said.

Carpenter Skatepark is located behind City Hall along Highway 7 in St. Louis Park.