Action on the rails
Liberty Mountain Skate Park offers a place to perform stunts and tricks indoors
Ride — Students and locals can sharpen their skills at the Liberty Mountain Skate Park. Photo credit: Courtney Russo
Rain or shine, Liberty University students and the Lynchburg public have a safe place to practice their railslides and land their kickflips at the Liberty Mountain Skate Park.
Located at 3700 Candlers Mountain Road behind CiCi’s Pizza, the park offers 8,600-square-feet of year-round indoor features for skating and biking. The facility has a wide selection of features, including a spine ramp, mini ramp, a bowl, rails, boxes, funbox/ledge, five block/large handrail, banks and an observation deck, according to the skate park’s webpage.
Nick Barton, clerk and instructor at the skate park, said the facility opened approximately five years ago to Liberty students and opened to the public
in 2011.
“There are many Liberty students that visit the park regularly, but the majority of the people that visit are from the public,” skate park Clerk and Instructor Robbie Hubbard said.
Admission to the skate park is free for Liberty students with a valid Liberty ID, and the price for the public is $1 per hour or $5 for all-day admission, according to the park’s website.
Over the course of a few years, the facility has seen many changes to its features. According to Hubbard, there have recently been some new additions, including a middle section, which includes hubbas, smaller handrails and a beginner section.
“We’re constantly improving, constantly changing it up,” Barton said. “(It) makes it more interesting and fun. It’s something different.”
Liberty Mountain Skate Park is unique in the fact that it is an indoor facility that is open year-round, which is not offered by any other local facilities, according to Barton.
“There are a couple of other parks in the area, (but) this is the only indoor park for a while,” Barton said. “We have a spectator’s point with couches and TVs. We have wifi, so that sets us apart a lot.”
According to Barton, skateboarding lessons are offered at the skate park and anyone on staff can give the lessons. They are informal and no appointments
are required.
Hubbard said the park is slowly starting to attract the general public as more people find out about the facility.
“The park is getting a lot more recognition and the public is starting to come in more often,” Hubbard said.
According to Barton, Liberty’s skate park is convenient because of its location and hours of operation.
“The downtown park isn’t open unless someone volunteers, so they’re never open,” Barton said. “And Bedford Skate Park, which is about 25 or 30 minutes away, is all
concrete outdoors.”
According to Barton, the skate park is busiest when temperatures are extreme, or if it is raining. He said weather plays an important part in determining how busy the skate park is on a given day.
The park also hosts a number of special activities throughout the year, including Pizza Jams and a couple of other skating contests. Hubbard said Pizza Jams occur on the first Tuesday of every month at 6-9 p.m. Admission is $5, which covers the cost of skating and all-you-can-eat pizza.
The skate park will have a booth set up for the Get! Downtown event Saturday, Sept. 12, which is held on Main Street in downtown Lynchburg.
For more information about the Liberty Mountain Skate Park, visit liberty.edu/skatepark or the official Facebook page at facebook.com/LibertyMountainSkatePark.