11-Year-Old Nevis Boy Looks to Build a Local Skate Park

An 11-year-old boy is taking initiative to make his birthday wish a reality. Liam Gustafson is working on raising funds to build a skate park in the town of Nevis and has already made progress on this project less than a year later.

Gustafson started this journey by writing a letter to the Nevis City Council. He then spoke in front of the council and over Zoom with Minnesota politicians to advocate for a finance bill. This work is to bring a skate park to Nevis, as the closest one is almost an hour away in Bemidji.

After celebrating his 11th birthday at at the Bemidji Skate Park, Gustafson’s dream started to take form. Now, he has a hand-made model of what he looks for in a skate park. He says he also plans to make an updated one.

Gustafson has already secured the land from the city council. It is a downhill plot that is located right next to the ice rink along Village Road. It is also located near the school. Gustafson’s classmates even shared their enthusiasm for this project, holding a vote to choose the name “Wild Tiger Skate Park.”

According to the Tony Hawk Foundation, a skate park in a town the size of Nevis would cost between $200,000 and $300,000. It would also take 1 to 4 years to full construct.

The plans for the skate park include making it primarily out of concrete so less maintenance would be required from the city. The Gustafsons are currently fundraising, and their latest effort, a bake sale in collaboration with Liam’s classmates, raised almost $2,000.

“I don’t even have words on how proud I am of all the things that he’s done,” said Liam’s mother Heidi Gustafson. “He does get nervous, but he always comes through.”