Scenes from Lafayette Community Skatepark, Day 1
Plus, Ron Alting’s primary challenger weighs in on senator’s call for redistricting Indiana’s congressional seats. And some this and that.
Support for this edition comes from Purdue Musical Organizations, presenting the 92nd annual Purdue Christmas Show. The Christmas Show will shine Boilermaker bright with an all-student cast, festive music and dazzling performances. Tickets are now on sale for the Dec. 6-7 shows, where audiences of all ages will come together to celebrate the spirit of the holiday season at this timeless Purdue tradition. Get your tickets here.
SCENES FROM LAFAYETTE COMMUNITY SKATEPARK, DAY 1
The Lafayette Community Skatepark – an $800,000 collaboration by Lafayette, Tippecanoe County and Faith Church – opened Friday to a big crowd and solid reviews from skaters and bikers there to test the 15,000-square-foot runs and features at Faith East.
“Incredible,” Jeremy Howland, a skater and a sophomore at Purdue, said, as he and about a hundred people had already dropped in even before dedication ceremonies Friday afternoon at the skatepark built into the church campus’ parking lot along Indiana 26 East.
The skatepark had been in the works since 2023, when Faith Church looked to remove wooden ramps it had installed in 2007 and maintained next to its community center on the congregation’s campus just east of Lafayette. That space was tabbed for a new athletic training facility for Faith Christian High School.
The new park remains free, open daily from dawn to dusk.
“It was a long process,” Bart Smith, a co-owner of Hunger Skateparks, said. The Bloomington-based company was hired to design and build the park at Faith East.
“They basically trusted us to do our best,” Smith said. “And that’s what made it great. We did our thing. We had flexibility and room and time, and we made it happen. Everybody out here loving it is so great.”
(Aerial courtesy of Frank Oliver)
Tyrone Taylor, a veteran of the skate community growing up in Greater Lafayette now raising a family in Dayton, said the park didn’t disappoint. He said he’d gone to the public input sessions Faith, the city and the county hosted ahead of design and construction.
“I know Hunger does a good job,” Taylor said. “The skaters here are pretty vocal about what they wanted, so it came out like a real legit park. I think that’s why you got so many unique obstacles from a normal, standard skate park. I think that’s why you also have so many people out here right away. They’ve been waiting.”
Johnny Kjaer, director of the Faith East Community Center, asked the crowd at the dedication how many of them had skated on the older wooden ramps on the other side of the church’s parking lot. Dozens of hands went up.
“Did you wish that we could have something like this?” Kjaer asked, greeted by a few calls of “Finally.” “Thanks for your patience. … We present to you the park that many only thought would have been a dream.”
For more about the Lafayette Community Skatepark, here’s some history and a tour of features from a BiL edition Thursday:
FOLLOWING UP: PRIMARY CHALLENGER WEIGHS IN ON ALTING’S CALL FOR REDISTRICTING IN INDIANA
Richard Bagsby, a Tippecanoe County Republican challenging state Sen. Ron Alting in the 2026 GOP primary, late Friday congratulated Alting for his announcement earlier in the evening that he would back the push for a mid-decade redistricting in Indiana ahead of next year’s midterm election.
Bagsby questioned Alting’s timing after being quiet on the question as pressure mounted from President Donald Trump and the White House administration to redraw lines in hopes of Republicans winning more of Indiana’s nine seats in the U.S. House in the 2026.
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