Southside residents celebrate the grassroots effort that built Atlanta’s newest skatepark

Caption

Atlanta City Councilman Antonio Lewis, who grew up in and now represents the area, gets on a skateboard after the official ribbon-cutting at Ruby Harper Skatepark in South Atlanta.

Credit: Amanda Andrews / GPB News

Caption

Jordan Patterson does tricks on his skateboard before remarks began at the grand opening of Ruby Harper Skatepark on Dec. 20, 2024.

Credit: Amanda Andrews / GPB News

Caption

Students and teachers from Heritage Academy attended the December 2024 grand opening of Ruby Harper Skatepark in Atlanta.

Credit: Amanda Andrews / GPB News

Not far from Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, community members braved the cold to celebrate the grand opening of Ruby Harper Skatepark in December.

Neighbors of all ages gathered in thick coats and thicker padding to skate on the park's new ramps and bowls.

Ruby Harper Skatepark is the second outdoor skatepark in South Atlanta after Arthur Langford Jr. Park. The new development is in Atlanta’s Poole Creek neighborhood, sitting on a side street past heavy industry on a hill known for the old playground that used to be located there.

Carleigh Burdette reflected on the changes at the grand opening.

“This park was kind of old and, like, really rusty, and it's, like, completely new,” she said.

Before the changes, the park was long past its prime. Children avoided it and some people were afraid of the park. Joyce Smith said for her grandchildren that’s changing.

“They asked me every day, 'Granny, can't we go to skate park? Can we go to skate park?'” Smith said.

Smith has lived in Atlanta’s Poole Creek neighborhood for 50 years, and brought her grandkids Gabriella and Kymanii Pearson out for the opening of the new feature that’s bringing kids back to Ruby Harper Park: the skatepark.

Gabriella said she’s excited.

“I feel good because I never skated in my life, and I wanted to try it,” she said

Her brother Kymanii has a new Black Panther helmet and he’s getting creative with tricks.

“Like I'm going down a hill and jumping off the skateboard,” he said.

Caption

Gabriella (blue helmet) and Kymanii (black helmet) prepare to skate down the new ramps.

Credit: Amanda Andrews / GPB News

Smith said she feels good about this place for her grandkids and for other kids, too. 

“I am so happy that this park has been built,” she said. “I've been trying a long time to get, in the community, something for the kids to do because they would just get in the street [with] no place to play.”

Smith isn’t alone. Coreen Dent is the president of Southside Concerned Citizens Community Association. During the grand opening, she said the skatepark breathes new life into the park on the hill.

“People no longer fear coming up that hill; the community now feels excited to come up that hill,” Dent said. “They feel invited to come up that hill because now we know that with unity in the community, there is not a hill too steep for us to come up.”

Atlanta City Councilman Antonio Lewis grew up in Poole Creek and currently represents the district. He said the original idea for this skatepark came from a group of third graders at a nearby school.

“What's more grassroots than the students at a school telling their principal they want to skateboard?" Lewis said. "The principal telling the PTA, the PTA members telling the council member, and the council member telling the private organization to 'Help us find some money.'”

For many, that reflects a Southside Atlanta tradition of going out of the way to provide for kids’ real needs. Lewis said that’s even reflected in the park’s name: Ruby Harper Skatepark.

“Ruby Harper was a person, a sister, a sister who actually bought a school bus because she saw the kids couldn't get to and from school,” he said. “She took the kids from their middle school all the way up to high school. So she did both lanes and she charged zero dollars.”

The impact of a new skatepark stretches beyond Poole Creek. Skaters often travel long distances and build vacations around good skateparks.

People are already making the trip to Ruby Harper. Jordan Patterson made a half-hour drive to the park from Lithonia before it was even officially open.

“They had like a soft opening a month or two ago, it was packed,” he said. “It was good to see people out here from every different side of town: Gwinnett, Cobb, city of Atlanta, DeKalb, everywhere. Just for this.”

The growth doesn’t stop there. Atlanta’s 10-year master plan for parks and recreation includes adding another five parks within city limits.

Development at Ruby Harper Park will also continue with plans for walking trails and a splash pad.