As Mississippi State University student Tony DiNolfo sped toward a steep wooden ramp Saturday at the Starkville Community Market, he crouched slightly on his skateboard, adjusted his feet and prepared for takeoff.
The Horn Lake native then flew off the roughly two-foot-high structure, did a 360 flip, where his skateboard flipped and spun 360 degrees under him, and caught the board with his feet before landing squarely on all four wheels. Roughly two dozen people clapped and hooted as DiNolfo rode away clean.
“Yeah,” shouted Nathan Herring, a Starkville native and wildlife and fisheries major at Mississippi State, who then pushed off toward the ramp for his own trick attempt.
Herring, DiNolfo and a handful of others worked together in recent weeks to organize an afternoon of skating, biking and cooking out Saturday at the Starkville Community Market site at the corner of Lampkin and Jackson streets. People brought ramps, a quarter-pipe, fun boxes and grind rails, and set them up on the concrete pad overlooking the intersection. For participants under 18, a parent or legal guardian had to sign a waiver.
Herring hopes the city will take notice of the event and see the need for a skate park in Starkville. Herring skates with a group of 10 to 12 people, he said, but also sees an increasing number of small children and fellow MSU students on skateboards. Dozens of skaters and bikers came and went throughout the afternoon Saturday.
“I think the (skateboarding population) is definitely growing as the university grows and the town grows,” Herring said.
The city”s Parks and Recreation Department worked with local non-profit organization The O”Nan Project for Change last year and applied for a Tony Hawk Foundation grant to build a skate park, but the city was not chosen, Meagan O”Nan said Saturday as she watched the group speed around the market site.
“I think it”s really inspiring to see them being proactive,” O”Nan said. “There”s nowhere in this town to skate, so instead of sitting around and complaining about it, they”re out here trying to get something done.”
Joseph Thomas, a mechanical engineering major from Greenwood, took to the air on a skateboard and a bike Saturday.
“The more people we have out here, the easier it will be to show we need a skate park,” Thomas said.
“We”re really just trying to let the city know how much this means to us and how much we need this,” DiNolfo agreed.
Members of Mississippi Brawl Stars, a roller derby team with participants from throughout the Golden Triangle, also attended to show their support. One option being discussed is the construction of both a skate park and roller derby rink side-by-side in one location. The city also has looked at the possibility of a skate park at George Evans Park, off Gillespie Street, but talks are only preliminary.
A fundraiser for the skate park project will take place April 15 at the Starkville Sportsplex on Lynn Lane.
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