South Walton has bike trails and beaches, but what it lacks, is a skate park.
"When the county master planned Helen McCall Park there was a skate park master plan for that complex. It was never built, it was part of a different phases that was never funded to get built," said Louis Svehla, Walton County Public Information Officer.
But now after years of advocating, the skate park at Helen McCall is becoming a reality.
Back in August 2015, the county donated a piece of property to a local group called Walton Sk8s.
The county also gave the group $30,000 from the District 5 Recreational Plat Fees to help with the construction.
"The $30,000 that the county has offered is a matching fund, so we will be raising 30 in order to get that 30. The total cost of the park that we would like to build very high quality will be between $300,000 and $500,000," said Mike Sturdivant of Walton Sk8s.
To help reach that goal, the group has also applied for a grant through the Tony Hawk Foundation.
When looking at grants, the Tony Hawk Foundation looks at the potential design, as well as if the park is free and open to the public.
"The grant is up to $25,000, so it can be anywhere between $1,000 to $25,000 depending on needs," said Sturdivant.
And Walton Sk8s doesn't plan on 'grinding' to a halt anytime soon, they plan on 'kick-flipping' into more parks in the future.
"Once the county sees how much the community embraces it then we will be building small parks around the county," said Sturdivant.
Walton Sk8s will hold their first fundraising event Saturday February 20th at Trebeache in Blue Mountain Beach.
An official design of the park has not been released at this time, but they do plan on the entire facility to be made of concrete. Walton Sk8s officials say they will release the potential design at a later date.
This specific project could also be done in multiple phases, depending on funding. Since the future skate park property belongs to the county, once it is built it will be maintained by Walton County.
For more information on Walton Sk8s, we have attached a link to their website.
Meanwhile, the skate park in DeFuniak Springs has been closed since 2013. The city recently received a $50,000 grant to go towards the new skate park. No word yet on a completion date for that specific project.
