An effort to open an indoor skate park in Bend, called Board House, is launching a fundraising effort to help make the idea a reality. Skateboarders Trygve Bjornstad and Mitch Wettig decided to launch the effort last summer.
The vision for the indoor skate park and event center is to be a place of "inclusion, joy, learning and motivation," the organizers said. The goal is to create a space for all ages, skills and backgrounds in the community, offering something healthy and active to support people and kids.
The need for this, according to one of the founders, Caitlin Bjornstad, is evident.
“The skate community is growing massively, not just in Bend or Central Oregon, but nationally,” she said. In talking with many skaters in town, they learned how hard it was to find time to enjoy the sport, as Bend has such a short window of seasonality for outdoor skate park use.
For snowy or smoky days, an indoor space in Bend would allow people to skate and enjoy board sports all year long, especially given that there’s no indoor skate park within 100 miles of Bend.
The organizers recently turned this project into a nonprofit to provide the best access for the community. According to Bjornstad, the hope is to make this center accessible for everyone, offering things like adaptive sports events and after school programs for a low cost to anyone who wants to be involved.
“The world is our oyster with this. We really want to make it a place where people feel comfortable hanging out,” Bjornstad told the Source Weekly.
While the founders hope to get the community involved as much as possible, the nonprofit is also looking at possible sponsorships and donors to help bring in the necessary funding. There are a few different buildings in Bend that they have their eyes on, said Bjornstad, but more funding needs to come in to get there.
In addition to its newest fundraising campaign through Give Butter, the nonprofit will also start holding fundraising events to get the community excited and to help get closer to its goal.
The vision for the indoor skate park and event center is to be a place of "inclusion, joy, learning and motivation," the organizers said. The goal is to create a space for all ages, skills and backgrounds in the community, offering something healthy and active to support people and kids.
The need for this, according to one of the founders, Caitlin Bjornstad, is evident.
“The skate community is growing massively, not just in Bend or Central Oregon, but nationally,” she said. In talking with many skaters in town, they learned how hard it was to find time to enjoy the sport, as Bend has such a short window of seasonality for outdoor skate park use.
For snowy or smoky days, an indoor space in Bend would allow people to skate and enjoy board sports all year long, especially given that there’s no indoor skate park within 100 miles of Bend.
The organizers recently turned this project into a nonprofit to provide the best access for the community. According to Bjornstad, the hope is to make this center accessible for everyone, offering things like adaptive sports events and after school programs for a low cost to anyone who wants to be involved.
“The world is our oyster with this. We really want to make it a place where people feel comfortable hanging out,” Bjornstad told the Source Weekly.
While the founders hope to get the community involved as much as possible, the nonprofit is also looking at possible sponsorships and donors to help bring in the necessary funding. There are a few different buildings in Bend that they have their eyes on, said Bjornstad, but more funding needs to come in to get there.
In addition to its newest fundraising campaign through Give Butter, the nonprofit will also start holding fundraising events to get the community excited and to help get closer to its goal.
