New skate park opens in Ocean View after 9-year community effort

For more than nine years, volunteers with the Ocean View Skatepark Association have been fundraising, planning and working with the County of Hawaiʻi to build a skate park in Ocean View.

While the dream of a large park is still caught up in government bureaucracy, the community has worked hard to create a smaller, temporary version. On Saturday, Kāhuku Grind Skate Park will have its grand opening with skaters of all ages able to enjoy the fresh concrete ramps and railings.

“The vision was to provide children and families with a safe, accessible space that promotes fitness and community engagement,” said Travis Aucoin, who has been part of the Ocean View Skatepark Association since its inception. “It took several years and a lot of work, but I think that vision is finally coming true. I think a lot of people are going to love this.”

The skate park occupies about 58 by 28 feet of Kāhuku Park and was built solely by volunteers through the Department of Parks and Recreation’s Friends of the Park program.

The program allows community members to improve and beautify public parks and facilities, combat vandalism, assist maintenance staff in restoring deterioration, and assist in enforcing park and facility rules.

Construction of the Kāhuku Grind Skate Park began in February after a design was approved by Parks and Recreation. According to Aucoin, volunteers worked on the park two to three days each week, 10 hours a day, to complete it.

“We have a good group of five to six volunteers each workday, but some days there were many more that came out to help, which was awesome to see,” Aucoin said. “We had people with experience come out to form the ramps, build rock walls and pour concrete, which made things really come together.”

The skate park features obstacles such as quarter ramps with multiple angles to accommodate beginners to experts and a flat rail for grinding. The concrete is fresh and will be curing until the grand opening on Saturday.

Materials were purchased with a $10,000 grant from Hawaiʻi County Councilmember Michelle Galimba and a matching $10,000 from Parks and Recreation. All the work was done by volunteers.

The Kāhuku Grind Skate Park is a smaller iteration of the long-time plan to build a full skate park in Ocean View. While the larger skate park has been in the works since 2023, a master plan has not yet been made.

In 2023, the Department of Parks and Recreation used $234,384 in county funding to pay a consultant to perform a necessary environmental assessment of the proposed site of the skate park on a portion of Kāhuku Park, 92-8607 Paradise Circle.

According to Parks and Recreation, staff is currently reviewing the draft environmental assessment that was completed at the end of 2024.

“Among the factors that have contributed to the environmental assessment and master plan taking longer than anticipated are the large volume of projects we have in development, as well as the fact that there is no funding identified for the design and construction phases of the larger skatepark and related facilities, such as parking and restrooms,” Parks and Recreation Director Clayton Honma said Friday.

According to Laura Roberts, a longtime members of the Ocean View Skatepark Association, she and Aucoin helped develop the idea of building a smaller skate park while the community waits for the larger skate park with Parks and Recreation.

“Our big skate park plans are waiting on funding and the environmental assessment to be completed,” Roberts said. “This smaller space will provide a space for our community to use now and will serve as a keiki skate space when the larger park is built.”

Parks and Recreation stated that they enjoy working with communities to create more recreational opportunities where they are needed.

“We are excited that through a Friends of the Park collaboration with the Ocean View Skatepark Association, we’ve been able to add a new skatepark in an already-developed area of Kahuku Park,” Honma said. “We sincerely appreciate the collaboration and efforts by the volunteers, who dedicated their talent and hard work to make this new feature at Kahuku Park come to fruition.”

Over the last three months, the community rallied together to get the work done for the new Kāhuku Grind Skate Park. A few of the volunteers showed up every workday to get the park done and often had experience building skate parks in the past, including William “Soup” Campbell.

“Soup has built concrete skate parks in the past and he helped with every part of this build,” Aucoin said. “Design, demo, material lists, material hauling, running the mini excavator, planning. He had the vision of how the flow would go and also incorporated cool artistic features.”

Volunteer Jesse Wheeler said he enjoys skating and building, so it was an easy decision for him to help build this skate park, which is the second skate park he has been involved in on the Big Island.

“Since I’m in Ocean View now, and I’ll be using the park as much as anyone, I have to put some work in,” Wheeler said.

At the grand opening, the Ocean View Skatepark Project is celebrating with live music, food vendors, a silent auction, and mini skate clinics.

“We wanted to make sure we had this celebration so we can first honor the volunteers who really put their all into this project and then so people can see how the skate park will bring people together,” Aucoin said. “This park is just one part of us working to make our community better for each other. Being so isolated doesn’t have to mean that there is nothing to do together.”

The grand opening will feature live stylized portraits, a free tie-dye booth, and mini skate clinics. Several local musicians will be performing, including Betty Brainmouth, Maka Gallinger, Kauz of Affliction, Dan Doing Dan Things, Mr. Kneel, Future Tides, Big Eye and DJ Sho Nuff.

“I will be teaching some of the mini clinics to keiki that day because I want beginners to understand how to use the skate park before everyone starts using it,” Aucoin said. “I’m a lifelong skater, so I want to advocate for the younger generation to get out of the house and use skating as an outlet.”

The grand opening will be from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the Kāhuku Grind Skate Park at 92-8598 Paradise Parkway in Ocean View.

Visit the Kahuku Grind Skate Park website, or the Ocean View Skatepark Project Facebook page for all updated information.