Rochester's The Garden Skatepark Built For 6yearold Beginners And 65yearold Veterans

ROCHESTER – No one is more excited about the opening of The Garden Skatepark in Rochester than 12-year-old Charlie Kramer.

And it's not just because her parents, Laura and Adam, are the owners.

Charlie started skateboarding three years ago. It immediately became his sport, and Charlie spent hours at Rochester's outdoor skate park during the warmer months.

Since Rochester's last indoor skating rink closed in 2011, it has been impossible for Charlie to skate at the venue due to the cold and snowy weather. So Laura Kramer and Charlie move to the Twin Cities area to help Charlie grow as a skater.

It was a long trip, but it was worth it, Laura Kramer said.

"They are very encouraging. That's what really inspired me (to open the garden),” he said. "I would take Charlie and I would have to look after him when he was 10. Charlie would do something and these older boys would cheer him on.

“It's like a group of people who are really interested in helping everyone. This is not a strange race. That's what I said. "I want more than that." I want our children to be more than that."

Rochester residents will soon be able to experience skateboarding culture with the opening of The Garden in mid-February. Kramer bought the former Whiskey Bones building in August, but it took about six months for Adam Kramer, owner of Kramer Contracting; Swamp Trough, Ramp Designer; and longtime skateboarder Corey Distad, among others.

The space will include a skate park, a 40 m x 96 m rectangle, a skate shop and a cafe that will be hosted by Kramer's teenage daughters.

Adding a cafe was a unique idea for a skate park. Part of the reasoning comes from Laura's experience at other skate parks; There is no big poppy shop other than sitting in a booth. The cafe is a way for all skatepark visitors to do something.

"I want you to come home," Laura said. "I want the children to feel comfortable when they come here. Even if they don't skate, they might want to drink some coffee and do their homework here. I want this (country) to be the way they want it to be."

Adam Kramer added that it's "interesting to give people a place to have fun and bring young people into the skating community."

When the Garden opens, area skaters will have a great place to learn or develop in the sport. He was the driving force behind the skatepark ramps designed by Gold Valley's third-tier ramp builder, Trog.

"(The ramps) are built to specifications that allow kids to learn to skateboard and progress," he said. "From my first day as a skateboarder to my 30th year as a skateboarder."

"We're literally trying to catch up," Adam Kramer said. "We don't want the Corries of the world skating for 20 years. We want 6-year-olds learning to skate. Also, that's literally what we want. We created."