Fairfield Teens Give New Skate Park High Marks

Fairfield teens and youth said this afternoon that the new skate park by Jennings Beach and South Benson Marina is fantastic, but they're less enthusiastic about rules that require them to wear safety gear.

"The park is fantastic. There's no complaints about the quality of the skate park," said Bobby Dorin, 21, who was among 40 youth and teens at the Jennings Beach Skate Park this afternoon. "The issue is cops coming down here and complaining about pads and helmets. I think they should renegotiate their insurance policy to a skate-at-your-own-risk park."

The rules also could be revised to let skateboarders who are at least 18 years old decide whether or not they want to wear safety gear, Dorin said.

Dorin and other skateboarders said the rule requiring safety gear - particularly knee pads and elbow pads - wasn't enforced consistently. "Some cops enforce it, some don't. Some townspeople enforce it, some don't," he said.

Dave Annunziato, 15, of Fairfield, agreed. "It's whatever cop you get," he said, adding that police come to the park once or twice a day to see if skateboarders are obeying the rules.

Piet Hartt, 18, of Fairfield, said the skate park initially was going to be a skate-at-your-own-risk park.

Will Whalen, 17, one of the Fairfield teens who helped to design the skate park, said the park was overseen by those teens on a regular basis and that they reminded out-of-town skateboarders about the rule requiring helmets. "It's hard getting kids out of town to wear helmets because they don't know the rules," he said.

Whalen said skateboarders know their limitations and are unlikely to try anything they're not capable of and that will get them injured. "When we skate in the street, we don't wear our helmets. We know our limitations. We're not stupid," he said.

The most serious injury that happened in the park since it opened in December was a broken arm, though a few skateboarders have sprained their wrists and ankles, skateboarders said.

Thomas Whalen, 13, Will's brother, said he comes to the skate park just about every day and estimated 50 skateboarders are in the park at peak times on weekdays and about 100 are in the park at peak times on weekends or when school isn't in session on weekdays.

"It gets packed some days," Annunziato said. "Friday, it was packed - no one had school. Then a cop came and kicked everyone out because they didn't have pads. We didn't have knee pads or elbow pads, but everyone had helmets."

Jeff Zeleny, 14, of Fairfield, said the park is mostly used by Fairfield teens and youth on weekdays, but a decent number of out-of-towners from Connecticut come on weekends.

"On weekends, we get different places. We've had guys from Long Island, New Hampshire, Vermont, all over Connecticut...The old park was just straight Fairfield kids," Annunziato said.

The Jennings Beach Skate Park, built at a cost of about $200,000, is one of only two state-of-the-art skate parks in Fairfield County; the other is in Stamford.

The old skate park in Fairfield, which also was near South Benson Marina, had individual ramps and jumps and lacked "flow," which is a term used by skateboarders to describe the ability to skate from ramps to jumps in a continuous motion. The old skate park, which was managed by the YMCA, just allowed a skateboarder to skate over one ramp or jump at a time.

"This is, I think, around Fairfield County, the best skate park. It's got everything you need," Annunziato said.

The skate park in Stamford was about the same size as the Jennings Beach Skate Park but, unlike the Fairfield park, it allows bikes, and a lot of people who use the Stamford park are on bikes, Annunziato said.

The Fairfield park is open to skateboarders and in-line skaters, but Annunziato said almost everyone in the park is a skateboarder.

Skateboarders said it'd be great if the park were larger and had lights because some teens and youth who come to the park after sunset use their cars' headlights to illuminate the park. The park is supposed to be open from sunrise to sunset, but that rule isn't strictly enforced, skateboarders said.

But skateboarders added that the town spent a lot of money to build the park and they doubted it would become larger or have lights. "It's definitely a great park. We're happy we have something and don't have to drive 45 minutes," Zeleny said.

In addition to wearing helmets, elbow pads and knee pads, other rules in the park include no skating when the surface is wet or frozen; no bikes; shirts at all times; and no glass bottles, unauthorized equipment, pets or spectators in the park.

There's no charge to skate in the park, but people who park their cars there need a town beach sticker, or have to pay a daily rate, from Memorial Day weekend to Labor Day.