A local initiative in Trenton is helping keep kids active and out of the cold weather on the weekends. Freedom skate park is located in the old Roebling Machine Shop building on South Clinton Avenue. It is a joint initiative between the City of Trenton and Freedom skate park, a NJ Nonprofit Corporation.
Founder and Executive Director Jake McNichol said “There used to be a number of indoor skate parks in and around New Jersey because when it rains, when it’s cold, when it’s dark outside, you really can’t skate outside at all.”
After doing a successful pilot program in 2018 and 2019 with Trenton Circus Squad, which, according to McNichol, had “dozens of people coming into the park each week,” they decided to establish their own program so that they could have more freedom to make it their own.
The Freedom team went to the Department of Recreation and showed them the results, and after seeing the success the department “agreed to let us use the space during the winter. And our side of the agreement is that we bring all the equipment, we administer all the programs,” McNichol says.
Unlike the indoor skate parks that he grew up with, McNichol says he wanted this one to not worry about profits, as that is why they went under.
“We have always been, since day one, 100% volunteer run. Everything we raise, all the money we bring in, goes straight back into new and better ramps, board giveaways for under-served kids, [and] programming,” McNichol says.
When asked how it was funded, McNichol said “It’s funded almost exclusively through donations from supporters. And that’s a mix of supporters who are companies, like Vans has been a great supporter, Red Bull has been a great supporter, and then a lot of smaller local businesses.”
Freedom has also tried to adapt to the ever changing world of COVID. They require masks while skating, and everyone who enters has to sign a COVID sheet that affirms you do not have COVID or COVID symptoms. It also works as contact tracing in the event someone does test positive.
“We were very careful to make sure all our events took place in a way that kept all of our volunteers and participants safe,” McNichol said, adding, “It was challenging. It was stressful. It was a lot of work to make sure that we kept everybody safe. But we wanted to continue to provide this resource for Trenton while also ensuring that everyone was safe during the pandemic.”
At Freedom, you see people of all different skating abilities. There are some people skating ramps and practicing grinding on a ledge, and those trying to master a new trick. There are also kids who are just getting started with the sport.
One of these kids is 8 year old Annalise Geist, who has been skating since she was five.
Geist got into skateboarding after her older brother introduced her to it.
When asked what she was doing inside, she said she was having a lot of fun “going up and down ramps.”
Annalise’s mom, Amanda Geist says that they try to come every week.
When asked if she was worried about her daughter skateboarding, she said “Sometimes when she tries new things, but she’s pretty comfortable on the board.”
Amanda added, “This is like the best place to come to skate…People are supportive here being that she’s young and you know, she’s not as fast and crazy as everybody else. It’s been a really good experience here.”
Freedom NJ Skate Park is located at 675 South Clinton Avenue in Trenton. It will be open until February 26, Saturdays from 12PM to 6PM. More information at freedomnj.org.
