The Nelson outdoor skateboard park project may be out of the running in the Aviva campaign, but Rob Levesque with the Kootenay Lake Outdoor Skateboard Park Society has not lost sight of the bigger picture.
“There’s hope,” said Levesque. “Of course I’m disappointed. It would have been a huge boost and it would have made things easier. It’s been a long road and I have one goal on my mind.”
The Society urged supporters and the community to head to the Aviva website to vote for the second time in two years, but there weren’t enough votes to push the project to the final round.
“I would like to thank everyone who voted,” said Levesque. “I do start to feel like an annoying person, when I’m really pushing and prodding. I seem a bit relentless about it, but obviously it’s worth it.”
The news may be easier for local skateboarders to take after the City of Nelson announced last week that it would be backing the park in a provincial grant.
“It would be amazing for a $500,000 project, they would come up with $400,000 and we could easily come up with the $100,000 requirement,” said Levesque.
The provincial grant would pay for 80 per cent of the park leaving the society to pay for the remaining 20.
Levesque said the group currently has $60,000 in the bank and has a lot of fundraising ideas in mind.
“We have a meeting with Columbia Basin Trust,” he said. “We’re going to be unveiling a platform where people can donate on various levels, from a bronze all the way to a gold level with permanent donor recognition in the form of nice plaques or signs at the skatepark.”
The society will also be launching a campaign where people can purchase a square foot of the park for $50.
“It would have been a huge boost to get the Aviva funds but what can you do? We just have to move on,” said Levesque.