Little Rock plans to complete the skate park at Kanis Park with a $150,000 grant awarded to the city by the Coca-Cola Bottling Company, officials announced Wednesday.
The beverage company is awarding Little Rock the funds through its Refreshing Community Spaces program. The money will be spent to complete the skate park and enhance the batting cages, picnic and grill area, ball field and tennis courts.
"I'm very excited," said City Director Doris Wright, whose Ward 6 includes the park.
After Wright visited Little Rock's Chinese sister city last year, Changchun officials expressed interest in sponsoring a new pavilion in Kanis Park. A long-term plan for the park calls for the construction of an arboretum and pedestrian bridge.
The grant is a welcome development in efforts to enhance the park, Wright said.
Most of the skate park's features were built by local skateboarders who took it upon themselves to create the ramps, rails and pipes. A skateboard bowl was built by the city in 1987, and the other features are built around that.
"I want to see the skate park developed into something where we are having annual events, such as a skate park festival, where people from all over the country come here. As you know, that bowl there is very, very well known on the Internet among skateboarders," Wright said.
Parkview High School regularly uses the ball fields at Kanis Park.
The city hasn't determined the specific upgrades to be made to the park, but a news release said a community event announcing the grant is scheduled for mid-July. More details are forthcoming, the release said.
Coca-Cola's Refreshing Community Spaces program targets underserved communities and is an effort to build healthier communities, said Lauren Clark, Little Rock's volunteers and communications coordinator in the Parks and Recreation Department.
"The Coca-Cola company chose Kanis Park to receive this donation, making a large impact on this neighborhood park and encouraging youth to have fun and be active," Clark said.
Kanis Park is one of 60 parks overseen by the city.
Metro on 06/25/2015