Skate Park benefit at The Orchard Theater

Local skateboarding advocates are gaining speed on an effort to build a world-class skate park in South Kitsap as they close in on a park designer and kick off more fundraising efforts.

The work of the South Kitsap Skate Park Association caught the attention of Councilman James Colebank, who discussed the work and encouraged residents to support the effort to create a skate park in the South Kitsap Community Park.

The next opportunity to support the group comes at The Orchard Theater with a showing of “Dogtown and Z-Boys,” a 2001 documentary about a 1970s group of skaters who influenced the sport in the following years. The story of the Z-Boys, a group of skaters from Santa Monica, was later dramatized in the 2005 film “Lords of Dogtown.”

The film showing comes as the nonprofit looking to build the park closes in on a designer for the project. The group has met with Grindline out of Seattle, California Skate Park and Dreamland.

They hope to construct a $700,000 to $800,000 park

Leslie Taylor, mother of avid skater Zack Taylor, helped establish a 510c3 nonprofit to raise money and help build such a park.

“People have tried in the past to put skate parks in Port Orchard,” Taylor said. “They have died out for one reason or another. This is an opportunity of a lifetime where people can get involved and create their own skate park. We believe the skate park we’re creating in Port Orchard will last a lifetime.”

Tickets for the film night cost $10, and all the profits will go toward the building of a park.

The film is showing at 6 p.m., March 20 at The Orchard, 822 Bay St.

A second showing is possible, but not yet announced.

For more information on the South Kitsap Skate Park Association, visit www.skskatepark.com.

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