Youths gather at newly opened Turlock skate park

Caden Speckens spends a lot of time at his local skate park. On his days off from school, he’ll typically stay at the skate park from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m., he says.

The 16-year-old Pitman High School sophomore said spending all that time on his scooter or skateboard isn’t that big of a deal, and his parents know all about it. “They’re fine with it,” Speckens said Sunday while taking a short break at the newly opened Brandon “Cookie” Koch Memorial Skate Park.

Youths in Turlock needed a new place to skate after the old skate park closed a year ago. That park, between the old Turlock police headquarters and Turlock Irrigation District office at Canal Drive and Palm Street, had been open since 2004.

The 6,000-square-foot skating area is at Donnelly Park, surrounded by plenty of grass, trees, man-made lakes and Canada geese that make the park their home. The new skate park is closer to Speckens’ Turlock home than the old one, which he says was way past its prime.

“I think it’s better,” he said of Koch Memorial Skate Park, “because everything was falling apart on the old one.”

The park was named after Koch, an avid skateboarder who died at age 26 from cancer in 2012. His family weighed in on the skate park’s design during community meetings held in Turlock.

The final design incorporated (in skateboard lingo) kicker stairs, down ledges, handrails, a euro gap bank, quarter pipes and a three-flat-three, which is a pair of three-stair steps with a landing. It has pump bumps, a rolled feature skaters can use to pick up speed or change direction.

Steven Gately, 14, heard the new skate park had opened, so he made the trip Sunday from his home in Escalon to check it out. He says each park has its own style, and this one has what he’s looking for.

“This park is more like ‘street,’ there’s more ledges and rails,” said Gately, an Escalon High School freshman.

And Gately says the ramps are nice, too. “They’re really smooth, they’re like perfect here,” he said.

Frankie Abott, 11, of Turlock used to ride on his scooter at the old skate park almost every day, he says. He didn’t like that he had to wait a while to take his turn on the new ramps Sunday.

“I like the old one better,” said Abott, a fourth-grader. “It had way more space than this one.”

A few dozen people were trying their moves on the ledges, rails and ramps Sunday afternoon. They were using skateboards, scooters, roller blades and bikes, even though bikes are not allowed at the skate park. Turlock police officers have been patrolling the area, telling some that bikes are not allowed.

Ivan Vasquez, 25, and Marcellino Rangel, 23, joked that they were probably too old to be at a skate park, but they were there Sunday capturing their moves on video. Vasquez said they plan on posting some of the video footage on Instagram.

They both had tried the old skate park. They were impressed by the new skate park’s surroundings and its design.

“This one has more ramps,” Vasquez said. “There are more obstacles for us to learn on.”

This story was originally published August 28, 2016 at 5:53 PM with the headline "Youths gather at newly opened Turlock skate park."