Construction on a new Town skate park near Cole Field will begin later this year, replacing a park demolished on the site in 2025. Purple Valley Trails, a nonprofit formed in 2024 that is dedicated to increasing community engagement with the outdoors, is leading the project.
The former park was rendered unusable because its metal ramps had slowly sunk into the asphalt, according to Purple Valley Trails President Bill MacEwen.
MacEwen said he viewed the old space as an opportunity to further the organization’s mission of creating more outdoor activities in the Berkshires. The nonprofit, a chapter of New England Mountain Bike Association, built five miles of mountain biking trails around Mount Berlin last year.
Although the skate park is on public land, the Town does not have a parks and recreation department, meaning that the construction of a new skate park needed external support. This support came from Purple Valley Trails. “We saw an opportunity to not just repair the park, but upgrade it into something that’s really world class,” MacEwen told the Record.
The Williamstown Community Preservation Committee (CPC) granted Purple Valley Trails $75,000 for the park’s design process in 2024. The organization later also received $170,000 in private donations from several businesses with local connections, including National Grid, Stewart’s Shops, Green River Financial Services, and Tunnel City Coffee. MacEwen emphasized the significance of the donation total. “[It’s] amazing for a public project,” he said.
From the initial fundraising process, the nonprofit received about 40 percent of the money it needed. Last week, the project received a possible endorsement for $350,000 in CPC funds, if the project is approved at Town Meeting in May. If approved, construction on the site will begin in June.
“Now that the ramps are out and the permits are in and the designs are done, we’re really just shovel ready,” MacEwen said.
MacEwen referenced the success of several nearby skate parks in cultivating community outdoors, particularly in Bennington, Vt., and Manchester, Vt. “When you go to [the] Bennington [skate park] on a sunny weekend, it’s just full of kids everywhere,” he said. “It’s a really good vibe. I think we’ve seen that when you build these things correctly, they get a ton of use. And when they’re broken, they don’t.”
Purple Valley Trails has experience engaging with local children as well as College students. To generate excitement for the skate park, the organization established a skate club at the Williamstown Youth Center on School Street, which already has roughly 30 members. Purple Valley Trails also runs a trail building physical education course with the College as well as a trail building trip during the Williams Outdoor Orientation for Living as First-Years program.
Though the skate park is still pending approval at Town Meeting, MacEwen is eager to see it in use so that his children can take advantage of the new space. “These days — and I’ve got two young girls — it’s really hard to compete with the screen and social media,” MacEwen said. “I think we need to invest more in making these opportunities really appealing to get kids outside.”
