On a hot summer day in South Texas, 98 degrees with minimal cloud coverage and an army of mosquitoes, West Guth Park still buzzed with eager energy. Skaters lined up along the perimeter, waiting patiently for their turn to finally hit their wheels against the gray concrete of the freshly-debuted, highly-anticipated skatepark.
“I love skating at Cole Park, I could skate it with my eyes closed,” said local skater Ruben Adame, who’s made a second home out of Cole Park’s bowl for the last 20 years. “Nothing beats your local park but you’ve gotta have something else, so it’s exciting that [this is] finally here.”
City officials cut the ceremonial ribbon of West Guth Skatepark on Wednesday, June 26th, making history as the first “plaza” style park in Corpus Christi. Skaters welcomed the completed project, first approved as part of the Bond 2020 program, with open arms during a Skate Day event sponsored by local businesses Benjamin’s and Ponyboy Skate Co. on June 30.
The scene of kids, teens and grown-ups alike laughing together, mingling and picking each other up off the ground was a far cry from the anti-skate environment elder skaters remember from their early days.
“Growing up, we never had an organized movement for skateboarding because it was such a fringe sport,” said Ponyboy owner and local skate advocate Adam Rios. “It was seen as an outlaw thing, and that stigma made it difficult to mobilize for change.”
Born and raised in the 361, Rios spent the last 25 years living, traveling and skating in communities across the world. Coming back home to care for his father and determined to apply what he learned to the community he grew up in, Rios’ well-rounded pitch for refurbishments of Cole Park Skatepark during an open comments session in 2022 set his bigger plan in motion. After completion of this first project by October 2022, Rios set his eyes on the prize: a brand-new park. Now sitting on the Parks & Recreation Advisory Committee, his new position allowed him to advocate and spearhead the two-year project that produced West Guth Skatepark.
“There is an entirely new generation of kids coming into this, and [this park] is just planting the seed,” Rios said. “Corpus could be on the map for a sport like never before, and I guarantee Corpus will have an Olympic athlete in skateboarding within the next three Olympics, easily. This is a training route for them, and now they’ve got multiple parks to hone their skills.”
With the West Guth addition and solid plans for a future park on North Padre Island, skaters feel the tide finally turning. The local support of a once-disdained hobby gives hope for a brighter future when it comes to growing the scene in Corpus, a community some skaters described as their found family. Both Rios and local skaters alike believe in the potential for greatness found within the city’s skaters, especially for the youth.
“It keeps a lot of the younger crowd out of trouble, having a place like this,” said Corpus native and skater Christian Sanchez, pointing at the group of high school teens skating under the shaded portion of the park. “People don’t see that bigger picture.”
Rios mirrored that sentiment, calling the new park a “safe avenue for kids who want to make this their passion.”
“These parks are theirs,” he continued. “Everybody’s equal at the skatepark. It’s one of the only places where many generations of different kinds of people can come together and do something––that’s the beauty of it.”
Both Ponyboy Skate Co. and Benjamin’s believe their future skate days will begin attracting larger sponsors, akin to other skateparks around the country. From a back-to-school skate jam and donation drive in August to a Vans-sponsored skate invitational in November, the skatepark’s calendar continues to be jam-packed with events.
”All your troubles stop the moment you’re in that park,” described Rios. “The moment your wheels hit that concrete, you know life is all right. No matter what problems you’ve got, you’re gonna go skate and clear your head. You’re gonna get yourself back up, and you’re gonna go back into the community as a better person.”
