Ken Wormhoudt Skate Park

Before his passing in 1997, Ken Wormhoudt was the world’s premier skate park architect and continues to be well recognized as the pioneer of skate park planning. His approach, which his son, Zach Wormhoudt follows to this day, was to involve local skaters in designing their own park, with the architect providing a realistic sense of options and helping the skaters to select and arrange the features which meet their needs. Ken would provide the skaters with modeling clay and have them work together to design their own ideal park.

Ken Wormhoudt designed and oversaw the construction of what is generally considered to be the first skate park in the world at Derby Park in Santa Cruz. After completing Derby Park, Ken, initially on his own and later with his son Zach Wormhoudt, went on to design and construct over 80 municipal skate parks and provided skate park facility planning and design consulting for over 460 skate parks in municipalities around the world. Ken and the firm he created with Zach Wormhoudt have won numerous awards for excellence from the Skate Park Association, U.S.A., the California and Nevada Parks and Recreation Societies, the American Public Works Association, and other professional and civic organizations.

In addition to creating local skateboarding facilities, Ken Wormhoudt contributed in countless ways to parks and public art in the City of Santa Cruz. Ken was on the Arts Commission for years and played the major role on the Public Art Committee during a time when an incredible amount of public art was created downtown and on West Cliff Drive, including the surfer sculpture.

He was determined to make public art a reality, and when the budget to build bases and settings for various sculptures and art pieces was lacking, Ken would complete the work himself as an unpaid volunteer. The well-loved Tom Scribner statue now on Pacific Avenue lived in Ken’s garage for one to two years after the earthquake until the sculptor came back to town and worked on its restoration.

Beyond public art, one can see Ken’s design work in several City parks and streetscapes, including Laurel Park, the Beach Flats Community Park, the serpentine on the hill on Second Street and many others.

Ken Wormhoudt was a skate park pioneer who earned a place in skate park history and made invaluable contributions to the local community. The naming of the new skate park in his honor is a tribute to his life, his family and many friends, and the community.

• Architect – Zach Wormhoudt
• Engineer – Charlie Prograce
• Contractor – A.J. Vasconi
• Concrete staining – Tom Ralston Concrete
• Sign illustrations – Israel Forbes

Since 1996, the City had been striving to fulfill the recreational need for a permanent skate park. Derby Park, constructed over 25 years ago, did not meet the demand for a contemporary skate park, and the temporary Fun Spot skate park was intended as an interim solution.

In late 2003, City Council designated Mike Fox Park as the preferred skate park site and in 2004 gave the skate park final approval. In early 2006, the Parks and Recreation Department issued a Notice Inviting Proposals for construction of the Skate Park Project at Mike Fox Park. The project included a 15,000 square foot skate park,a parking lot and streetscape improvements.

In March 2006, the City received four proposals to construct the Mike Fox Skate Park project. The lowest cost proposal received for the project was submitted by AJ Vasconi Engineering. This contractor was highly qualified and had constructed numerous skate parks throughout California, including the recently completed skate park in Pacifica.