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Skateboarders stoked over Belen’s newly-designed Eagle’s Nest Skatepark
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BELEN — There were plenty of daring tricks and smooth moves, as well as a good number of spills and flubs at the Eagle’s Nest Skatepark last Saturday.
Local skateboarders and trick bike riders got to experience the additions to the skatepark at Eagle Park in Belen, including new ramps, rails, benches and stairs. Originally built about 20 years ago, the skatepark began its life in the parking lot of Belen City Hall.
“We used to take it all out into the streets, until city officials started to get upset with us over skating every where in town,” local skateboarder Dylan Jimenez told the News-Bulletin in 2021. “That’s when some of the older guys got together and fought to get a skate park built. They first got it set up in the parking lot at city hall.”
Wanting something bigger and better, the local skaters fought harder for a better facility, which was eventually built at Eagle Park in about 2004.
PHOTOS: Eagle's Nest Skatepark (6/15/24)
“I’ve been skating this park since I was 11,” said Belen skateboarder Gabriel Trejo. “I’ll miss the old park. It was the original. It prepared me to be good enough for this one.”
Not only did the skatepark help hone his skills, but Trejo says it and his friends helped him stay off a destructive path.
“Skating saved my life. I was looking at drugs and alcohol. Coming here, with friends, it was such a good thing,” he said. “This is something positive for kids and we’re glad to see it paying forward. This is the first step to it getting bigger.”
The park was temporarily closed in February to allow for the new construction and renovations unveiled on Saturday.
The Eagle’s Nest Skatepark was designed by American Ramp Company and paid for by the New Mexico Regional Recreation Centers/Quality of Life Grant program. The city was awarded a $272,972 grant last year, which was part of $40 million awarded in late 2023 to local and tribal governments for quality-of-life projects.
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To qualify for the grant, the project had to be “shovel ready,” said Belen Mayor Robert Noblin. “This was and I am so happy with anything we can do for our youth.”
In addition to the free hot dogs and shaved ice offered to attendees on the hot afternoon, pro skaters and American Ramp Company designers Julia Brueckler and Cody McEntire came to the Hub City to try out the park they helped design.
A skate boarder for 22 years and an Olympic skater at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, where skateboarding was featured in the Olympic program for the very first time, Bruckler said she was happy to come out and see the park in real life.
“We got the request for the design and the locals had put a lot of heart and soul into the design,” she said. “We developed two designs and they picked my favorite. It’s great to be here and see it come to life for the community.”
