USA’s Largest Skatepark to open this week in Des Moines Iowa:

The Lauridsen Skatepark will host a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Friday, May 7 at 4:30 p.m. to celebrate its grand opening. The Skatepark is the largest in the country and will open to the public in Greater Des Moines (DSM) in advance of hosting a national event later this month.

The ribbon-cutting ceremony will take place at the Skatepark at 901 2nd Ave. in Downtown DSM. The Skatepark is centrally located at the north end of the Principal Riverwalk next to the Des Moines River. Media and the public can pay to park at the Iowa Events Center parking lot or find a paid street parking spot close to the Skatepark. All attendees will need to enter through Bobber Park on the south side of the Skatepark. Masks will be recommended per CDC guidelines.

Following the ribbon cutting, the Skatepark will be open to the public beginning 5 p.m. until 10:30 p.m. Friday night, and will be open on Saturday and Sunday from 6 a.m. – 10:30 p.m. each day. The opening will provide a sneak peek for the community before setup begins for the Dew Tour competition set to take place from May 20 – 23. Set up for the Dew Tour begins at 6 a.m. on Monday, May 10. The Skatepark will be closed to the public from May 10 – 27 while the Dew Tour set-up, competitions and clean-up take place. The only exception is that some skating elements are open to those with Dew Tour tickets from May 20 – 23.

The Dew Tour event will include World Skate sanctioned men’s and women’s skateboarding Street and Park competitions, serving as the only U.S. based global Olympic skateboard qualifying events for 2021. Skateboarding will make its debut at the Olympic Games this summer in Tokyo, which were rescheduled in 2020 for July 23 – August 8, 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

No public registration is required. Members of the media interested in attending are asked to contact Courtney Shaw at cshaw@dsmpartnership.com and Jon Cahill at Jonathan.Cahill@PolkCountyIowa.gov.