Festivities Include Music and Plenty of Skating

Asheville, NC - At 2 p.m. on Saturday, October 20, the highly anticipated Food Lion SkatePark will celebrate its Grand Opening, an event that has been nearly five years in the making. The park is located at the corner of Flint and Cherry Streets in Montford, across I-240 from the Asheville Civic Center. The celebration will feature skateboarding demonstrations, live music, and, of course, an opportunity to be among the first to skate this new state-of-the-art facility - for FREE! Plus, there will be a number of free giveaways, so plan to arrive early.

Made possible through a generous show of financial support by Food Lion, the park is the premier facility of its kind throughout the region. Featuring 17,000 square feet of skateable surface housing three distinct areas - a shallow bowl, a street course, and a deep pool - the Food Lion SkatePark offers challenges to skaters of all abilities and interests. Food Lion's partners in the park are Mountain Dew and Doritos. Media partners, committed to promoting the SkatePark and its activities, are Mountain Xpress and New Rock 93.3 The Planet. The park is owned and operated by Asheville Parks and Recreation.

After the Grand Opening, the Food Lion SkatePark will begin normal operations. Hours will be noon - dark on Monday through Friday; 10 am - dark on Saturday; and 1 pm - dark on Sunday. Daily passes to the park will be $2 for city residents and $4 for non-residents. Individual annual passes will be $50/year for residents and $100/year for non-residents. Family annual passes will be $75 for residents and $150/year for non-residents. All skaters must sign a waiver before skating, and the waiver must be signed by a parent or legal guardian if the skater is younger than 18. The park is only available to skateboarders and in-line skaters, and not to bicycles, due to the damage that bicycles would cause to the skateable surface, causing that surface to degrade and become unsafe for skateboards and in-line skaters.

For more information on this event or the park in general, call the Asheville Parks and Recreation Department at 259-5800 or visit the new SkatePark web site at www.foodlionskatepark.com.

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