We were cleaning up the mess of the Malinas Machinas on monday and the brewer (Frans van Craenenbroeck) comes to me and he says: ‘I bought a café with a hangar in the back. Can you come check it out and see if it’s possible to built a skatepark in there?’ I couldn’t believe my ears, it sounded too good to be true. So of course I went there a few days later to check it out and the hangar looked super good! The ground was good, no poles and the roof was for sure high enough. So we agreed to start building asap. We worked on it for a one and a half months and recycled lots of wood from the old Ladybird skatepark in Tilburg. The skatepark was finished in December already, so we had the best private sessions before the opening on the 21st of February! Then a few weeks before the opening we asked Frans if we could do some concrete too. And like always, he agreed! So we built a small quarter and a wallride corner to a bar with pool coping. It took us 24 hours to do the concrete, because it wouldn’t dry, but the heavy work paid off and now we have this nice skatepark in which you can’t stop skating! It even has a basket ring and to enter the skatepark you have to walk through the keyhole of the quarter.
The skatepark is for free, you just have to drink a beer and skate!! If you are in Belgium, you must come and check it out – you won’t regret it!
Sometimes I hear this rumor of concrete in the garden… Who knows..
Words by Den Benne
Photos by Dorien Peeters
