Nick Wilson Memorial Park due for an overhaul

By Lauren Royce —

The Newark Valley Skate Park, also known as the Nick Wilson Memorial Skatepark, could face permanent closure if it doesn’t receive grant funding to undergo a much-needed overhaul. Newark Valley Mayor James Tornatore and supporters of the park are hopeful that the beloved community staple will live to see better days in the coming year.

The park closed sometime late in October. It is a seasonal space closed in the winter, but it is not yet clear if it will reopen next spring.

“We’re trying to raise awareness, and trying to find a grant,” said Shannon Baker, owner of Saints2Sinners Bike Club. A recent grant to the Tioga Downs Foundation was submitted, and as of this writing, they were waiting for word on whether it was approved or not.

Started in 2002, Saints2Sinners holds “jams,” bike swaps, and contests to encourage more bikers to come by the skatepark. She and her husband help keep a community of bikers, skaters, and the like alive through the park.

“We try to encourage anybody; it doesn’t matter who you are. If you want to get out and do something fun, there is a specific type of bicycle out there,” Baker said.

Baker said that for the first five or six years, the park didn’t need touching up. But after that, the park started needing repairs every two years consistently.

Worn plywood ramps and jumps show a dilapidated state because of continuous use from bikers. Baker said the most recent repairs were done a couple of years ago through a $1,000 grant from the village and another $700 pooled from the community. Baker said there are some people who feel the space could instead be turned into something else, such as a dog park. But being that Trout Pond is nearby, it wouldn’t make much sense.

“In this day and age, when most kids go home and either get on the video games, or on TV, on their phone, we should be encouraging them to get outside and do something like ride their bike or skate,” Baker said. “We shouldn’t be taking one of the only things that they have access to away from them.”

The park serves not only as a community hub but as a reminder of one of Newark Valley’s own heroes. The park was built in 2006 by Nike after local BMXer Nicholas Marzolino won an essay contest telling the story of Nick Wilson, who had been one of the kids riding BMX before the park came to be. Wilson served as a Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class, EOD Mobile Unit 3 diffusing bombs in Iraq before he was killed in action on February 12, 2006.

“He was a great kid,” Baker said of Wilson. “He would be so happy if he knew that something he loved to do before he enlisted was still going on in his town; he would love that.”

Tornatore remembered how local kids used what was available to them before the park was made, using dirt and sand to fashion their own park.

“Nick Wilson, and I remember when he was a kid, he was one of the major leaguers back there beyond the trout ponds with the sand ramps,” Torrnatore said.

“There was a crew of kids who rode BMX,” Baker said. “They didn’t have a place to ride, so they were in the streets constantly, and you’d see them hanging out. And (Tornatore) I believe Tornatore went to my brother-in-law because he was involved with BMX at the time. He said something about possibly creating a space for the kids to ride to keep them out of the streets.”

According to Newark Valley’s website, the official opening took place on Oct. 10, 2009 after combined efforts by Nike, Tioga County, the village and town of Newark Valley, and Broome Bituminous. Baker said her brother-in-law sat in on meetings to get the park going, and she organized the first fundraiser for it in memory of Wilson. Grant money came from the Mildred Faulkner Truman Foundation and Bassett Youth Foundation to help cover the costs not filled by fundraising.