Rotary Centennial Riverfront Skatepark Celebrates Grand Opening

The grand opening of the Rotary Centennial Riverfront Skatepark April 14 celebrated not only the formal opening of the skate park to the city of Lynchburg, but also the journey it took to get there.

In August 2017, Lynchburg resident Lauren Dianich began to encourage her son and his skateboarder friends to contact the Lynchburg City Council and push for a reopening of the skate park, rather than just complaining about the limited hours. After several months of raising awareness, writing letters to city council members and building connections within the skateboarding community, the City of Lynchburg Department of Parks and Recreation agreed to reopen the skate park.

“(The skateboarding community) saw that they could make a difference, and they could speak their minds by taking a good approach to (the situation),” Dianich said. “People often feel like they don’t have a say or things are out of their control — this (skate park) is something in their hometown that is in their control.”