Crowds gathered, tunes played and wheels hit the pavement Sunday as Gainesville celebrated its second annual Skate the City community event at the Midland Greenway.
The clouds cleared out and a blue sky reigned during Sunday’s gathering that saw hundreds of Northeast Georgians roll up and down the Greenway. Some pumped on their roller skates while pushing strollers and others laid in the sun and enjoyed a beer from Downtown Drafts. One thing was made clear: everyone was stoked to skate the city after a three-year hiatus.
“I think it's great, it gets people out on the Greenway, I skate this almost once a week just to come out and get some sunshine,” roller skater Caroline Coleman said. “But it's great that people are bringing all their roller skates and their skateboards and their bicycles and it just gets them out, instead of being glued to our phones like we always are, it gives you a chance to be social.”
As Coleman prepared for her 21st lap down the Greenway, she noted how the event encourages people to not only go phone-free for a while but also get some exercise in a unique and interactive way. Her current goal is to bring her skates wherever she travels, citing Fremont Street in Las Vegas as the most exotic place she's cruised.
“I burn tons of calories while doing it, an hour goes by and I look at my Apple Watch and it says that I burned like 600 — in the summertime especially it gets up to 800,” Coleman said. “But it's a great way to get some sunshine.”
The first Skate the City event took place pre-COVID in 2019 and is the product of a collaboration between Gainesville Parks and Recreation, Main Street Gainesville and Explore Gainesville. One of the motivations to put on the event was to remind the community of the expansive park space available to them year-round, according to Convention and Visitor's Bureau Manager Regina Ingebritsen.
“It's just a day to celebrate the Midland Greenway, to get people out here,” Ingebritsen said. “A lot of people even today coming up said, ‘I didn't even know this was out here.’ So this is what we're out here to do is to get people to recognize the Greenway and all the things that you can do on the Greenway.”
Ingebritsen was stationed at the northern end of the Greenway running the Explore Gainesville mobile visitor’s center, where the public could get more information about activities unique to Gainesville and spin a wheel for prizes. Explore Gainesville ties together the downtown area and other community spaces, such as Lake Lanier Olympic Park, with the goal of promoting what Gainesville has to offer to people both in and outside of the city.
Explore Gainesville is completely funded by a hotel and motel tax, which Ingebritsen said helps boost the tourism industry of the area by making the city a premier destination for conferences, outdoor activities and business.
“A lot of times people come here and they just don't realize, they think, ‘Gainesville, there's not a lot going on,’” Ingebritsen said. “And when they get here, it's like, ‘Wow, you've got a botanical garden, you've got the Greenway, you've got a world-class rowing venue, you've got a golf course, all these trails and just a lot of stuff going on — a great history center and an art museum.’ So it is a really great community.”
The popularity of Skate the City is prompting the founding teams to potentially host more than one per year, according to Parks and Recreation Manager Julie Butler. The original plan for the event came as a request from local art business Celestial Studios. While it started out as a roller skating-focused idea, Butler said it quickly developed into an all-inclusive anything-with-wheels event for the entire community.
“Skate the City is going to be an event that we pull out periodically through the year when the weather's good because it's a huge success and highlights every area of the Greenway,” Butler said. “From public arts to our trails, to our dog park, and the skatepark competition has turned out amazing. So we really want to do this on a regular basis.”
A major highlight of the event was the community-driven element, pulling in sponsorships, involvement and support from many different places. Arte Tattoo Studios was a sponsor and one of their artists also painted a mural at the entrance to the skatepark, which opened in 2020. In cooperation with the Vision 2030 art committee, Butler noted plans to launch the Greenway area as the Midland Arts District.
At the south end of the Greenway, a skateboarding competition was put on with judges ruling for the best overall trick. The winner received a new skateboard deck, wheels and other accessories. Local artist and skater Mike Mills helped judge the competition, which drew large crowds surrounding the perimeter of the skatepark.
Throughout the entirety of the event, families were seen rolling up and down the span of the Greenway, with many of them pushing strollers, eating ice cream and snapping photos. For Cody Baker, who heard about Skate the City on the Downtown Drafts social media page, the event provided a fantastic outlet for him and his family to bond.
“I grew up skateboarding, and these kids three or four years ago got some [roller] blades for Christmas, and so this is kind of what we do at the house,” Baker said. “And our area over in Pendergrass is growing, so it's really busy on our roads. So it's a good opportunity to get down here … good bonding for us, we all like to skate. She’s [Baker’s wife] not the skater at all, but she definitely carries the band-aids and everything in her bag.”
