What do you do when your 12-year-old loves to go to the skatepark with his scooter when there isn’t one in your town? You travel to other towns to use their skateparks. Not the most convenient.
In the 1990s, Easthampton did have a skatepark, unfortunately, it was torn down to poor conditions and the lack of functionality and has not been rebuilt (Easthampton Skatepark petition to Easthampton City Council).
But the good news is that there is a group, called Easthampton Skatepark, working to change that!
Easthampton Skatepark stated on their Facebook page: “On November 19, we met with Mayor LaChapelle again to talk about the plans of the skatepark. She is as enthusiastic as all of us towards the idea of a skatepark in Easthampton. We talked about potential locations, possible funding, and our community.
“The most important message from the mayor was how important it is to keep the community involved. Our intentions prior to COVID-19 was to create more events like the art show we had last year, but due to the current state of the world, we found it very difficult to continue this movement of having a skatepark built.
“We have regained motivation and believe together we can absolutely make this happen. In the next few weeks, we will be updating our Instagram and Facebook in an effort to create a larger following on this project. We are looking for the community to really show the city of Easthampton how much we want a skatepark.”
Fast forward to a car ride on the way to school. Michael and I were having a conversation about the “adult” fundraiser being held to benefit the Skatepark. We started brainstorming about what we could do that was more “family-friendly and COVID compliant”. I told him years ago that we used to do “paper drives” to make money for school field trips. But that won’t work now since everyone recycles. So then we thought about cans and bottles, that’s when Michael suggested a Bottle and Can Drive. Yes, let’s do it!
We started by contacting The Can Man in Easthampton to see if bringing potentially a large number of bottles and cans would be feasible for them. They agreed and offered to be a drop spot in addition to the local store, Mary Ann’s Dance and More.
The Bottle and Can Drive starts on April 29th and ends on May 5th.
Mary Ann's will be collecting during store hours at their Main Street location.
396 Main Street, Suite I
Easthampton MA
Text: 413-282-7871
Tuesday through Saturday 10a - 4p
.
The Can Man will be collecting during store hours at their Northampton Street location.
PLEASE MENTION THAT THE CANS/BOTTLES ARE FOR THE SKATEPARK FUNDRAISER.
135 Northampton St.
(near Papa George)
Easthampton MA
Thursday through Monday 9a - 3p
