Bolton Valley Resort to replace indoor skate park with tennis, pickleball courts

RICHMOND, Vt. (WCAX) - Bolton Valley’s indoor skate park is closing. The decision has upset fans of the park. Our Hailey Morgan found out why the resort made the decision and what will replace the skate park.

Since 2018, the Bolton Valley Backcountry and Nordic Sports Center has become a community hub for bikers and skaters, but now times have changed.

“My 8-year-old, Shiloh, he learned to skateboard last year in the skate camp. When I told him about it he cried himself to sleep. It was really sad,” said Joanna Desaubies of Richmond.

Desaubies is an employee at the Bolton Valley Resort and says her son uses the skate park quite often. When she heard the news that it would be going away, she wasn’t too thrilled to tell her son.

“He did not want it to go away. I think having this spot here is such a huge perk. When the weather is not contributing, we can’t go out, it’s raining-- we can always come here,” Desaubies said.

The indoor skate park was brought to Bolton Valley through Talent Skatepark, Inc. But now the resort wants to replace the space with tennis and pickleball courts, and although they would like to keep the park, resort brass says it doesn’t pay the bills.

“We really are and we want to be, and we want to act as a community resource in every way we can. We really try to do that in every way that we can. But, also, critically, we have to be able to function and survive as a business,” said Lindsay DesLauriers, the president of the Bolton Valley Resort.

The resort says the cost to convert the space will be about $25,000. Bolton Valley says it’s excited for the next chapter of the sports center.

“I want to say I understand this is not a consolation to the people that really want that to stay a skate park. But as we do look forward, we see both pickleball and tennis as really approachable sports,” DesLauriers said.

The last day for skaters and bikers to use the park is on Sept. 30. After that, this park is going away. But people who use this space hope there can be some kind of compromise thought up in the meantime.

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