It's been decades in the making, but now the KRV has its own skate park

Young people from 6 to 17 rode scooters, bikes and skateboards all last week at the newly opened skate park in Lake Isabella. Complete with ramps and half-pipes formed from concrete and metal, the soon-to-be-christened George and Darlene Randall Skate Park appeared to be the most popular place in town.

If it seemed to onlookers that the kids and teens had been waiting for years for this opportunity ... well, they had.

But their parents had been waiting even longer.

Dallas Holguin, now in his 40s, was still a youngster when organizers in the KRV began trying to raise money for a skateboard park in Lake Isabella.

"This has been in the works for 25-plus years," he said. "I was a kid, 15 years old, when we started getting money together to build a skate park."

TJ Swanson, who was also at the park on Lake Isabella Boulevard and Elizabeth Norris Road last week, was not bitter about the long wait.

"It never happened for us as kids," he said, "but it's nice to see it for our kids."

"This is a chance for them to enjoy their summer outside instead of sitting around playing video games all day," he said.

Residents lived through years of frustration as one project or another would seem viable, only to later slip through their fingers.

But this time, all the pieces came together.

"I know the community was raising money for it and I think they ended up raising about $80,000," said First District County Supervisor Philip Peters, whose sprawling district includes the KRV.

Peters recognized that, over several years, locals had contributed of lot of their own dollars, plus plenty of energy and sweat equity to bring this project home.

"Unfortunately, the costs of the project increased significantly over the ... years they were raising money, and the initial costs more than doubled," Peters said in a series of text messages Saturday.

The total investment in the project topped $815,000, he said, with shares coming from the county general fund, plus local donations filtered through the nonprofit California Recreation Foundation, Community Development Block Grant funding, District 1 parks dollars and the supervisor's discretionary funds.

"We allocated D1 parks funding, discretionary funds and CDBG funding to get it across the finish line," he said.

It was a finish line advocates of the skate park in the mountain valley had never seen before — and certainly had never crossed before.

After so many years of setbacks, KRV residents are still pinching themselves to make sure it’s real.

"It really seemed like a thing that was never going to happen," said Holguin. "I'm really surprised and happy that it has."

On Wednesday, he and his wife, Cassie Holguin, counted 47 youngsters using the skate park.

"We've seen a lot of respect for the park," Cassie Holguin said. "The kids are picking up their trash, taking good care of the park."

Teresa Contreras, a longtime local volunteer with the skate park committee, said it feels great that the skate park has finally arrived.

"I don't think people understand how hard we all worked for so long," Contreras said. "The negativity that people could put on, it really can take a toll.

"I don't think our community really ever thought it was going to happen," she said.

After years of failed attempts, valley residents just assumed this one would also end badly.

"So seeing it every day is like the greatest feeling," she said. "Especially when it's filled with kids and some adults, too."

The volunteer committee, made up of Karene Williams, Contreras, Christopher Brayman, Tanya Barling, Jon Ream, Becky Star-Harris and Jacob Havens, worked eight years dedicated to making it work.

"It was definitely an uphill battle," Contreras said.

Brett Willingham, 17, was at the park Thursday along with several other teens and smaller children. Willingham rides a scooter, but he said he's also thinking a lot about adulthood, right around the corner.

"I'm so glad it's here. It's finally here," Willingham said of the concrete playground.

But next year may bring new pursuits, he said.

Thirteen-year-old Ayden Fisher, another scooter rider, was clearly enjoying the town's newest amenity.

"I'm very happy. I'm glad they gave us kids something to do," he said.

Another scooter enthusiast, Brandon Mason, seemed to be reaching scooter bliss as well.

"I'm just really happy that they finally put a skate park in here," he said.

"I've been teaching the little kids. And trying to keep them safe."

Few of the girls and boys wore helmets Thursday, and knee pads, elbow pads and wrist bands were not seen at all.

Many youth in Lake Isabella don't have the means for such safety equipment, Contreras said. But 50 or more helmets will be given away to boarders and cyclists and scooter jockeys at the ribbon cutting and block party scheduled from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. July 12 at the skate park.

After all, no one wants to spoil this feeling of accomplishment with a major injury on the concrete.

Who knows? Maybe more donations of safety equipment are forthcoming.