Ranking Edmonton skateparks based on how badly I would like to go to them on a sunny afternoon.
We are two weeks into #SkateparkJuly and right now I am sitting in my air-conditioned office thinking about how awesome it would be to go to the skatepark on a sunny afternoon like today. A serious monkey’s paw of the hot summer afternoons in Edmonton is the near daily occurrence of an evening thunderstorm, which adds a layer of difficulty to going to the skatepark after finishing your day job. I find that this creates an even higher pressure for skaters to get out to a park when they get the chance on dry weekends and evenings, leading to pretty busy parks at those times.
As a girl who isn’t really that good at skating, this leads me to fantasize about being at the park on a weekday afternoon with two or three of my friends. So as I watch the thunderstorm start to form out of my window, here is: Ranking Edmonton (and area) skateparks based on how badly I would like to go to them on a sunny afternoon.
13. Callingwood
Unfortunately, I pretty much never want to go here. There really isn’t anything here that I look forward to skating that I can’t skate somewhere else. If this was a ranking of Edmonton and area skateparks based on how likely they are to be skateable on December 31st, then this would be number one. But until that day, Callingwood is the park I want to go to the least.
12. St. Albert
If you’ve ever talked to anyone about the St. Albert skatepark, you know what people think about it. But if you haven't, here's the short. It’s for old bowl guys, scooter kids, and guys who ride shaped boards. There’s so much scooter-traffic at this park, even during non-peak hours that it’s barely worth even going to. This place would greatly benefit from a Scooter Distraction Zone (more on this later). Perfect mannypad though.
11. Spruce Grove
This park feels a little too street league for my liking. Everything is in a weird place relative to the spawn points of the park, in my opinion. An awesome thing about this park is that it utilizes a Scooter Distraction Zone. Spruce Grove has a giant pumptrack on the farside of the park, which is incredibly effective at keeping scooter kids out of the skatepark and peacefully distracted. Including a giant pump track also gives the parks and rec department of Spruce Grove an awesome boasting point as they get to talk about how much square footage their skatepark covers, when really a third of it is utilized primarily by six year olds in spikey helmets.
10. Castledowns
This placement is being HEAVILY CARRIED by the idea of going here with two or three friends. There is really only one thing I enjoy about this skatepark, and it's that this park has every amount of stairs, and I love to skate a small stairset with two or three friends on a sunny afternoon. A small stairset provides the perfect balance of size where you actually enjoy jumping down it and trying new tricks isn’t that scary when you’re all doing it together. I do feel like I learn something every time I come here. Pretty much everything else I would leave behind and I don’t think I would ever go here alone.
9. Fort Saskatchewan
What the fuck, Fort Saskatchewan skatepark is on the list? I dunno, I just went here a lot when I started skating, and it’s been long enough since I’ve gone that I kinda get excited by the idea. I don't really remember much about it right now but I’m pretty interested in going just to see what its like now that I’m a better skater. I’d say with this park, we have officially crossed the barrier into parks I want to go to.
8. Kaskitayo
I like Kask as a park, but god, am I scared of teenage boys. Even worse than teenage boys are adult teenage boys. Too many of the locals here have their names written next to some pretty serious allegations in the women’s bathroom at H2O Lounge for me to want to go to this park on a weekend or evening. On a sunny afternoon though, this is a pretty epic park. I like the variety of rails and the pink ledge is nearly perfect spec with really good run up, medium height and grinds and slides as you’d hope.
7. Millwoods
I really only go to this park once or twice a year, which is maybe why it’s currently so high on this list as I’m about 9 months out from my last hit of Millwoods skatepark. I never really have a specific thing I want to skate here, but maybe that’s the appeal for me. It’s really fun to go to and just see what people want to skate that day, especially with all the weird obstacles.
6. Ardrossan
Man this park is weird and it is soooo much fun. This park has a nearly perfect obstacle density, and it’s set up perfectly to concoct lines on the long manny pads, especially with the quarterpipes on either end of the park. It also has a bunch of cross-hatched coping, which is a really fun touch. Criminally underrated park in the area, largely due to the location. Great place to go for an afternoon with two or three friends.
5. Capilano
There’s a lot of fun stuff to skate here on a sunny afternoon with two or three friends. Flying out of the banks and seshing the Eurogap are the highlights of this park when park traffic allows, but even when that doesn’t work out, the flatbar and the hip make for great sessionable obstacles to skate with your friends. There’s also a Dairy Queen within pushing distance.
4. Grovenor
This park reality speaks to the simple pleasures of skating with your friends. Besides the 5 foot tall deckless quarterpipe, this park is extremely chill and mostly just provides the basics. I come to this park just to skate the hip and do every trick I know, then I go home. It’s really easy to go here for a chill afternoon sesh and end up staying here for 3 hours and skating the whole time.
3. McKernan
The pavement here sucks, the obstacles make no sense, and the whole thing is off grade; but this park has one thing that none of the other parks thus far have had - shade. This is a pretty perfect park to hit up with two or three friends on a sunny afternoon. A curb for chill warming up, a kicker to take turns boosting out of, and then just a ton of kinda shitty obstacles to try tricks on. Also, biking distance from Ninetimes.
2. Canora Courts
Modular DIY-adjacent skateparks are my favourite parks and I know I’m not the only one with that opinion. Canora has nearly everything you could ask for, multiple ledges with various heights and constructions, a decent flat bar, cool banks, and a manny pad. It gets hot as hell here during the afternoon, but honestly, it’s usually worth it and you can get a slurpee pretty easily, if you’re proactive in preparing for the lack of shade.
1. Strathcona
I know that it’s partially recency bias due to the recent installation of this park, but wow I am having a lot of fun here. This park has a small ledge and a moderately high ledge which both skate perfectly. There’s a varied selection of weird one-off obstacles made by @blahughr for the park which open up a ton of creativity. What really makes this space special is the location, the whole park is surrounded by grass and trees, creating a perfect atmosphere for chillin, AND you’re also like two blocks away from the best Vietnamese subs in the city. This truly is an oasis of a place to be on a sunny afternoon with two to three friends.
- Vic.