Utah Skatepark Advocacy Group: Concrete and Stone Can Be a Home

Meet Sean Peterson: the director of product design at Awardco and street skater behind Utah Skatepark Advocacy Group. The collective is made up of passionate skaters from all over Salt Lake Valley who are fighting hard to build and renew spaces for the local skate community to thrive. Peterson began skating at age 8 after receiving a skateboard for his birthday. Hailing from the small town of Richfield in Southern Utah, Peterson didn’t have any nearby skateparks to practice at, so he primarily learned at the loading docks behind his local Kmart. At 13 years old, Petersen decided to fill this gap for his fellow young outdoor recreation enthusiasts.

“We look at California … Texas … the East Coast, getting all these great skateparks, and we want a part of that. We want a piece of that.”

After reaching out to the city of Richfield, through a lot of hard work and patience, he succeeded in his quest and the first skatepark in his town was built. During his middle and high school years, Peterson skated the metal Skatewave ramp until he later moved to Provo to attend Brigham Young University. Throughout his life, he held onto his love for the sport and passed it onto his own kids. He noticed that the same problem he faced in Richfield kept arising: There was simply not enough space for the ever-expanding skate community in Utah. “We’re entrepreneurial [and] driven, and I think that it bleeds into our skate community a little bit. That kind of chip on the shoulder. We look at California … Texas … the East Coast, getting all these great skateparks, and we want a part of that. We want a piece of that,” Peterson says.

In August 2021, Peterson created the Instagram page @goskateutah, a digital landscape of deep boarding knowledge and a skater’s oasis. He originally used the page to post about existing skateparks and their history as well as to garner attention for areas that could benefit from a new park. The account exploded in popularity, as skaters began reaching out to each other in the comment section in support of the endeavor and flooded into his DMs asking for guidance on how to build a park near them. “It’s a community effort. It’s all about the skate community getting together,” Peterson says. His main function is educating the public on how to accomplish these goals as well as petitioning for grants to build and refurbish skateparks. He’s also a communicator between the skate community and the government, finding a middle ground between building features wanted by skaters and fitting the improvements into a reasonable budget.

“It’s a community effort. It’s all about the skate community getting together.”

Peterson has inspired countless others by bringing together a strong social media presence. “You can be the difference maker in your community,” he says. He and his coalition often approach the state themselves and present their case for why they believe skateparks are of utmost importance. Peterson’s official involvement began in 2022 with the building of a park in Holladay and has since had widespread and rapid growth. Since then, 14 new skateparks have been built because of the community group and there are plans for upcoming projects in Millcreek, Moab, Provo, Santaquin, Vernal, Glendale and Washington City.

Peterson reports there is still a need for skate centers in North and South Salt Lake as well as downtown. He also shares that there is less and less pushback against the building of new parks due to the old stigma of skaters being “delinquent” dying out and the increasing need for outdoor third spaces. “Skateparks are essentially a playground where young people and adults can have this community area to go to progress, learn from each other, learn skatepark etiquette, and learn the ins and outs of the basic tricks. Oftentimes, you’ll go to a skatepark, and you’ll see a high schooler helping a middle schooler that is stepping on a skateboard for the first time, [teaching them] how to ollie and how to do tricks,” Peterson says.

To learn more about the skate alliance and how to build a new skatepark in your area, visit utahskateparkadvocacygroup.com or @goskateutah on Instagram.

Read more about local skaters and view their photos in SLUG:
Skate Photo Feature: Riley Winch
Skate Photo Feature: Bryan Gennaro