The history of skateboarding in Concord extends well beyond the skatepark.
Timeless shops like Banagans and a legendary pool made it into Transworld’s “Top 10 Secret Spots in America.” provided the local community with a rich past and strong drive to make the future just as much fun.
In The Early Days
In the early days, the Concord Skatepark was just a half pipe. It was always a popular place for kids, teens, and adults to hang out. But without proper maintenance, the halfpipe began to deteriorate. At the same time, skateboarding and other similar sports (rollerblading, BMX, etc.) were becoming very popular. Without the proper facility to practice and play, city streets and sidewalks became popular destinations. This created conflict with the city of Concord and other local communities.
Once the city caught wind that people were taking their sport to the streets, they began to put together plans for the current park. In summer 1998, the now existing skateparks pavement was laid down, followed by concrete ramps and other features in summer 1999. For its time, it was a well-built and designed park. Parks like this were being built across New England, using the standard cookie-cutter ramps that were still there when this article was written (11/12/2021).
The grand opening had an enormous turn out with over a hundred people attending. The skatepark was initially planned to have three building stages, but only stage one was executed. The skatepark has seen its time of uncleanliness, teenage mischief, and neglect through the years. But at the same time, it has kept so many kids busy playing and out of trouble.
With the skatepark slowly deteriorating like the first one, a new movement of hopeful energy has kept the park clean, safe, and welcoming to the community. It is now time to rebuild because the current skate park is not enough for the growing action sports community. Now that skateboarding in the top three biggest sports it is time to make a push for a park that embelishes the quality Concord has delivered to other projects throughout the community. As a community, we have created this website to work with the city in building a beautiful up-to-date skateboard park that can be enjoyed for many years to come.
2004
2004 Was a great year for the community. Pat Duffy and the rest of the Think Skateboards team made it to Banagans 5050 Boardshop and the Concord skatepark.
For those of you who weren’t around in those days, Banagans was the place to be. The skate shop was nestled in the basement of Banagans when it was located on Main Street, where there was always a new video playing and new gear dropping every week. It was the first place most of the skaters in the community could assemble before or after our sessions. Countless hours were spent in this shop by most of us in the community.
A quick recap of this event: Does anyone remember Stevie B (Shop Manager) beating Adam Dyet in a game of S.K.A.T.E? Or Pat Duffy launching quarter pipe to quarter pipe? Darek Walker was sitting on this footage for 19 years. He was kind enough to share it with us.
Rumor is, they went to the Pembroke Pool after the demo and Pat Duffy kickflip 5.0 stalled the light in the deep end. We are digging through our archives to find some photos of the Pembroke Pool (R.I.P), but this spot was legendary. It even made it into an old Transworld Skateboarding article about hidden skate spots in America.
