Donation puts skate park over the top

A $50,000 donation from businessman Michael Goguen has wrapped up fund-raising for the new Whitefish skateboard park and will enable a second phase of the facility to be completed this fall.

"This puts us over the top," said Brendan Rohan, vice president of the Whitefish Skateboard Association. "There were several others who said if Goguen will do it, we'll put in $5,000."

Goguen lives part time in Whitefish and is a general partner with Sequoia Capital.

Led by Rohan, the association has raised $355,000 for the 15,000-square-foot facility.

Additionally, the city of Whitefish has pledged up to $50,000 for landscaping and site work.

The first phase of construction began this summer east of the Roy Duff Memorial Armory at Armory Park. Dreamland Skate Parks of Lincoln City, Ore., is building the park and will start on the second phase this fall.

"We're racing against time," Rohan said. "It will probably be done by mid-November, and skaters might be able to use it for a couple days before there's two feet of snow on it."

The park will feature an expert-level bowl with old-style concrete coping, an intermediate bowl and an extensive street course. It will be named after David Olseth, a Whitefish skateboarder and mountain biker who was killed four years ago in an accident on Going-to-the-Sun Road in Glacier National Park. Olseth's family donated $100,000 to the project.

Efforts to build a skateboard park in Whitefish have been under way for nearly 10 years. The association raised about $85,000 through the years, but once a site was designated, fund raising kicked into high gear earlier this year.

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by e-mail at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com