Skate group's indoor park is a dream come true

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) - A mission set forth more than one year ago has been accomplished with the opening of northeast Indiana’s only indoor skate park.

Local business owner, Donny Manco, developed New Republic Skate, a mentoring program within the skateboarding community three years ago. 

The club is a branch of The Framework Fort Wayne , a not for profit organization focused on building communities of hope where they are needed most, as described on the group’s website.

For much of its existence, New Republic participants would come together at scheduled times at Fort Wayne’s Lawton Park, an outdoor skate park.  The club would also organize group outings and road trips to other facilities across the region.

The Framework launched a campaign in November 2011 to raise funds necessary to rent space and build an indoor park to allow New Republic skaters a place to gather no matter the season.

“It was necessary to do this so that when it gets too cold to skate outside, we could stay together as a group, as a community and be inside and continue to do what we do,” Manco said. “You take kids that identify as skaters and you take away that identity for an entire season and you get a lot of pent up energy and a lot of expression that isn’t being expressed.”

Through various fundraising events including a dinner and art auction as well as a golf outing organized in the past year, The Framework was able to collect enough money to rent a warehouse in East State Village.  The space has been filled with skate ramps that were either donated or constructed.

A second section of the rented space is reserved for future development of a community center where Manco envisions providing homework assistance and generally positive socialization between skaters and mentors on a daily basis.

“As a young person, you need to be able to express your worries and your concerns.  These kids, because they’re sort of solitary in a lot of ways, they don’t get a lot of that outlet,” Manco said. “These are kids that often times don’t have anyone to share their day with, so if we can get it open every day of the week there [will] always be mentors.”

The park is located at 3054 E. State Blvd.  It is open for limited hours on Wednesdays and from 6:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. Friday, from 1:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. Saturday and 1:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. Sunday.

Each five hour session costs $3.  Community sponsorships for individual children who might not be able to afford the charge are available.  The Framework asked that those interested in providing a scholarship for a kid to contact the group via its Facebook page.