Purcellville Skate Demo A Success

Last Saturday's "Burnin' Down the House" skateboard demonstration and fund-raiser at the old Purcellville Volunteer Fire Department's firehouse on Maple Avenue was "a resounding success," according to organizers.

By the end of the day, after selling raffle tickets, food, skate fees and accepting donations, the event had netted $720 to put into the Purcellville Skate Park savings account. The ultimate goal of Saturday's fund-raiser and other similar events is to raise money toward a "skate park of our own." Almost as important as the money was the ability to project a positive image to the community, according to Purcellville Skate Project President Dolly Stevens.

Stevens thanked the fire department for its generosity in allowing the group to use the firehouse, in which they did a number of skateboarding demonstrations as well as teaching younger children how to skate.

Stevens said the group received a lot of positive feedback from the public. The former firehouse is for sale and Stevens said the group fielded many questions from the public about why the skaters couldn't use the building on a temporary basis, pending its sale. Stevens said she hoped the fire department would consider that possibility favorably. But a fire department spokesman said the company is currently negotiating a sale and a contract is out, awaiting signature.

Members of the public on hand Saturday also said how nice it was to seek the young skaters all in one place where "they could do their thing," and not be chased away by unhappy business owners, residents or the police. "We are pleased that for at least one day, we corralled 47 of them in one [sanctioned] place," Stevens, herself a parent of a skateboarder, said.

Stevens pointed out that everyday skaters have no sanctioned place to skate, and they are out on the streets because they have no other local place to go.

The group also is discussing the possibility of acquiring a portion of land from Vulcan Materials and from Magic Dane Kayhan's Purcellville Sport Pavilion on North 21st Street. Kayhan has said he wants to work with the group, and can offer a 20 by 120-foot strip. Juanita Tool, a board member and parent of a skater, said the group also hopes to persuade Vulcan Materials to allow them the use of an 80 by 100-foot strip. Vulcan has said it will have its lawyers look at the request and get back to the group.

Saturday's event featured 47 skaters, of whom 38 were local. Nine came from Winchester and Leesburg.

Tool said the event was more successful than anyone could have imagined and vowed it would be even more so the next time a similar event is planned.

Purcellville Police Chief Darryl Smith brought his wife, and the two spent several hours there. Councilmen CJ Walker and Steve Varmecky also stopped by. Councilman Tom Priscilla has lent his support to the venture by writing a letter to Vulcan Materials supporting the skateboard project.

But, most impressive, and heart-warming, Tool said, was the number of people who stopped to encourage them, saying the town and its parents do indeed need a skate park, and offering them whatever money they had in their pockets.

One woman said, "I don't have much money, here's $5," while another gave $20 and a third gave $100. To top it all, a mother got out of her car and took all the money she had on her out of her purse and gave it to them, in "ones and fives."

"It really was a great time, and the community was so behind it," Tool said. "There are a lot of skaters in this area, and the community response kind of validated what we're trying to do."