The Skateparks of Chicopee - Part I (Sarah Jane)

Chicopee, Massachusetts. An unassuming town that somehow has accumulated FIVE skateparks. Yes, five. Surely there are towns out there, very likely nearby, that are in dire need to just have one, but instead they have all amassed in Chicopee - must be because of its booming skateboard community! Ahem. Anyways. It is a case of quantity over quality, however each park has its own charm - whether it be cheesy-but-fun plastic ledges or laughably bad obstacles, they are all kinda turds in disguise in their own ways, in varying degrees. I've always been a fan of turd parks in a way, they force you to work with what you have, deal with unkemptness and general sketchiness, and often present you with oddball things to skate.

Thus begins this five-part series. A general overview of each Chicopee skatepark, presenting them in all their scrappy glory. Hopefully these summaries will make you laugh, make you cry, bewilder you, frighten you, then make you want to get out there and skate! We're going to start off easy. Our first look is at perhaps the most legitimate, well-known park out of this cast of maltreated jokers. 

Sarah Jane Skatepark

Chicopee Street

Sarah Jane is probably the most skateable overall of the fearsome five. It's got a lot of open space, the pavement is decently smooth, variety of obstacles. Maybe the highlight for me here is being able to move lots of things around (boxes/ledges/manual pads of varying shapes and sizes and a picnic table). The plethora of boxes are, as plastic boxes always are, very slippery. You'll have no problems grinding or sliding as far as your wild heart desires - and thanks to overzealous middle-of-the box waxers, powerslides are an option as well, though they'll usually be accidental. Though slickness can be an issue and it is tough to lock into a grind, they are fun and portable, so there really is endless possibilities with these, I've skated them with alot of different placements. There is probably about 6 or 7 of these total, ranging in ~2" high manual pad, ~10" box, ~14" bench. The picnic table is the same plastic material but also has metal coping on the edges. It is pretty big at around 2' high, though the 'seat' parts are lower and also coped.

Kevin Walker utilizing junk.

Like any good outdoor park, there is bound to be random objects from the outside world that get tossed into the mix. Here it is often empty Arizona Iced Teas and such, but sometimes there will be things that are useful, like trash cans or a metal slab that was once a piece of a kicker ramp.

There is a big, smooth metal bank in one corner that's maybe about 6' high. That leads into a little bank-to-box which is often surrounded with the other movable boxes in any way imaginable. There is pretty much an identical bank in the adjacent corner, though a little less steep and made of a different "Skatelite" metal, or something. Across from that you have a tiny pyramid setup with banks, a launch ramp and a spine. That then leads into a quarter pipe that's about 4' in height. The flow going back and forth here is kinda bad, but not awful. It's mostly the pyramid to blame, which, if anything, slows you down, mostly due to unrepaired wear and tear. Its smallness is an intriguing oddity, however, the quarter pipe and bank are more worthy foes. They show some light damage too but have been fixed somewhat recently I think. Quarter pipe coping grinds fine.

You like rails, do ya? Pfft. Well, you shan't be disappointed at Sarah Jane, methinks. You've got this round rail that is not only nifty and curvy but lengthy too:

You've also got your standard straight round rail that is about half that length, and a green flat rail kinda hidden next to the pyramid. They're all around a foot in height.

So there you have it. Really if you're not expecting too much this isn't a bad park, if you're into ledges, rails and manuals Sarah Jane should at least suffice. Like all Chicopee parks, it's rarely crowded, or even occupied for that matter. If it is, it's usually kids on scooters, bikes, or nothing at all. Having all sorts of things to move around makes coming here always an adventure, you never know what kind of setup you're going to walk into or what new ones you can come up with. Lots of possibilities with lines and such. Go skate!