There’s a new spot for skateboarding in Sycamore thanks to the efforts of the local skateboarding community, Fargo Skate Park in DeKalb and the Sycamore Park District.

Dozens came together this month to practice their flip tricks, grinds and manuals on a resurfaced concrete slab in the middle of the Sycamore Park District. Skateboarder Aaron Wassner, 43, a nearly lifelong Sycamore resident, said it’s a park district amenity that will have a positive impact on local skateboarders.

“A lot of kids don’t fit into team sports, and this is where you go and get confidence and just be yourself,” Wassner said. “It’s awesome.”

He grew up playing SKATE (imagine HORSE from basketball, but with skateboard tricks) in the Sycamore garages. Over the past few decades, he has seen the creation of skateparks throughout northern Illinois, including those close to home in DeKalb and Genoa. However, until 2025, there was no dedicated place for skateboarders to practice their craft in Sycamore.

Now, there’s a 5,000-square-foot space with multiple street skating features near Field 15, across the South Branch of the Kishwaukee River from Good Tymes Shelter, inside the Sycamore Park District at 940 E. State St.

The Sycamore Park District and the DeKalb County skateboarding community’s de facto leader, Ariel Ries, the owner of Fargo Skate Park, worked together to create the skatespot.

Ries said she and the Fargo Skateboarding team urged the Sycamore Park District to create the spot after a Sycamore child said he was disappointed he didn’t have a local space where he could practice.

The skatespot – don’t call it a park just yet, skaters said – was given a $20,000 budget, Ries said. After submitting a petition with hundreds of signatures, she gave the Sycamore Park District concept plans for the spot in 2024, district records show.

Ries said the concrete slab initially designed for basketball, deep in the Sycamore Park District, south of the district’s golf course and defunct pool, was ideal for a community skatespot.

“We like to use what is there. We love repurposing things or places,” Ries said. “If we could find where there’s some concrete, we could make it for a lot cheaper than if we had to build completely from scratch.”

The DeKalb County skateboarding community came together on Nov.15 to celebrate the new skate spot, and despite the individualistic nature of the sport, their camaraderie could have been mistaken for a pickup baseball team celebrating the end of another intramural tournament.

Skateboarder Nico Positano, 29, a Fargo Skate Park employee, grilled hot dogs for the few dozen who joined them for the skate session. At one point, he ended up skating across the spot, while completing tricks, with a freshly grilled hot dog and tongs in hand.

Positano, a Kane County resident who works for Fargo Skateboarding, said he loves seeing new skate spots and parks developed.

“I love to see it,” Positano said. “I want more skate spots, more skateparks, just things for people to have a good time on and enjoy. I love seeing people come and do their own unique tricks on it. It’s really cool to see.”

To those who don’t know skateboarding, the new skate spot may seem unsuspecting, with only a handful of features - namely, a couple of manual pads, a rail, and a knee-high ledge. Positano said those features are perfect for beginners who need a place where they’re allowed to practice, however.

“I think it’s good for the aspect of learning the basic street maneuvers that you would want to do out in the streets, skateboarding,” Positano said. “Like doing manuals on the manual pad, or grinding a nice long granite ledge, which you would probably find somewhere in the streets but get kicked out for skating it.”

Ries described the obstacles at the Sycamore skate spot as simple but dynamic.

“You can learn a lot here,” Ries said.

While the spot already has features fundamental to street skateboarding, Wessner said he hopes more obstacles and ramps will be installed.

“It’s a good starter,” Wesnner said. “I think it’s going to go up from here, and the obstacles are going to get bigger, better and the kids in Sycamore will have better stuff to skate. I think it’ll be good for skaters and eventually BMXers when there’s ramps.”

Sycamore resident Jim Biesiadecki, 43, brought his children to the skate spot on Saturday and said he wished it had existed when he was younger. He also said he thinks it’s a safe place for people to skateboard, and championed the sport’s ability to develop character.

“It teaches people a lot about persistence, and with persistence, you’ll persevere,” Biesiadecki said. “Guys are trying things over and over again and not getting it until they do, and then everybody – there’s a lot of cheering going on for everybody to do their best."