FOLEY — Since opening to the public last week, the new Foley Skate Park seems to be a hit.

“It’s awesome,” said 19-year-old Ryan Kinsey of Elberta while taking a break from skateboarding at the new Forward City fixture.

Fellow skateboarding enthusiast and Elberta resident, 17-year-old Austin Raingler, agreed.

“I’ve been coming here every day since it opened,” he said at the fenced-in park.

The 6,000-square-foot facility, which is nestled between the ball field and swimming pool in Foley’s Max Griffin Park, opened last week with a formal ribbon cutting held by South Baldwin Chamber of Commerce. Joining city leaders for the occasion were quite a number of eager youth, anxious to try out the concrete structure.

“There were about 50 skaters,” Foley Recreation Director David Thompson said in a phone interview.

“It was one of the funner ribbon cuttings,” Foley City Administrator Mike Thompson said, adding that once the park was open, he remained for about an hour to watch the youth use its sophisticated features, which include two quarter pipes, stairs, two different grind rails, a hubba ledge and half pipe.

This isn’t Baldwin County’s first skate park. Instead, similar facilities are in such locations as Bay Minette and in municipalities along both the Gulf Coast and Eastern Shore. However, area youth say the new Foley Skate Park fills a void.

“Now, we don’t have to go to Gulf Shores or Daphne,” Raingler said.

As previously reported, plans for the Foley Skate Park began formulating in May, when the city of Foley, along with a committee made up entirely of skaters from Foley Middle and High schools joined forces to design the $130,000 facility. Subsequently, the city opted to tear down tennis courts in Max Griffin Park that had fallen into disrepair and place the skate park there.

However, also as previously reported, the endeavor did have a bout with controversy. Previous Onlooker coverage of the project garnered several online comments decrying, American Ramp Company, the business tapped to build the ramps. In addition, Foley’s recreation director had received similar emails with the same sentiments. But email sent to The Onlooker by Kim Cook of Oxford, Miss. showed that neither she nor any of her fellow opposers of the company or the structures to be produced have ever even been to Foley.

Despite those comments, the city moved forward with the fenced-in skate park’s design and construction. The end result is one that David Thompson deems a success.

“I think everything was well received,” he said.

While skaters who aren’t in school now frequent the skate park, David Thompson said the big hit is with area students.

“You can tell when school gets out because all the kids head to the skate park,” he said.

But the recreation director added that just because the facility is open doesn’t mean that work is complete.

“Our next phase is going to be to provide some lighting out there,” David Thompson said.

He explained that currently, the park closes at dusk because it is not illuminated.

“It’s not a problem in the summer when it gets dark late,” the recreation director said. “But right now, it gets dark at 5 o’clock.”

David Thompson said the city is currently looking at lighting options for the park that would be environmentally friendly and cost-effective.