BRIGHTON — The Brighton Reservation inaugurated its new skate park Nov. 23 with a slew of professional and amateur skaters of all ages.

The youngest budding skateboarder was 2 years old and the oldest was 51-year-old professional skateboarder Andy MacDonald, who brought five other pros with him.

The 13,400-square foot skate park has more than 20 ramps of varying sizes from 2 feet to 6 feet tall, a 4.5 foot half pipe, two grinding rails, a table and plenty of room to skate on the smooth polished concrete floor. Located next to the Brighton gym, it is a steel structure airnasium with open sides, large ceiling fans like ones found in rodeo arenas, lights, a speaker system to play music, a pro shop and restrooms.

The ribbon was cut by Brighton Councilman Larry Howard with help from MacDonald, Recreation site manager Mary Huff, Recreation site supervisor Kelly Smiley and more than a dozen kids who will likely be the ones to use it most.

MacDonald competed in the 2024 Summer Olympics for the Great Britain team. MacDonald was born in the U.S. but has dual citizenship since his father is from England. He was the oldest skateboarder in the Olympics and two of his teammates were only 16 years old.

He didn’t win an Olympic medal, but said the experience was the thrill of his career. He has also competed and won in the X Games 23 times with friend and fellow skateboarder Tony Hawk and was named World Champion nine times in the World Cup Skateboarding Series.

After the ribbon was cut, MacDonald spoke to the crowd of kids and their families about skateboarding. He told them he grew up in Boston and got a skateboard for Christmas when he was 12. He was determined to become a professional skateboarder and moved to California after he graduated from high school.

MacDonald practiced all the time to achieve his goal. What he didn’t realize was that he was training by practicing moves over and over.

“Skateboarding taught me self-motivation and self-discipline,” MacDonald said. “It also taught me a lot about creativity. There is no right way to skate, people have their own styles and one is no better than the other. There is no rule book for skateboarding, it’s all about the fun and creativity.”

He said skateboarding used to be the antithesis of an Olympic sport. It started in the 1960s by surfers in California, who put some roller skate wheels on wood boards and called it sidewalk surfing. In 1980, urethane wheels were invented, which changed everything. You could skate on the street and not be stopped by cracks in the concrete or a tiny pebble.

Florida has a prominent place in skateboarding history. The trick the “Ollie” was invented by Alan Gelfand in Hollywood in 1978. MacDonald said every trick since then is a variation of the “Ollie.”

After the ribbon cutting, MacDonald performed a risky trick. He had Councilman Howard and Huff lie on the floor, where he planned to jump over them. During the first try MacDonald held his skateboard; the second time he was on his skateboard as he easily breezed over them.

Then MacDonald, the pros from Lake Skateboard Team in Palm Beach County and the kids took to the ramps and had some fun. The pros demonstrated their skills and then helped the kids learn how to keep their balance on their skateboards while going up and down the ramps.

Damon Cypress, 12, learned how to drop in to the half pipe from pro Nick Day, who patiently held his hand as he learned. By the end of the session, Damon’s confidence level was a lot higher than before.

“This is an awesome place,” said Ciel Cypress, 11. “The ramps are nice and it’s so big so you can just chill. I’ll be here every day after school.”

The skate park is decorated with elaborate graffiti art on the exterior and interior walls done by Broward county artists Justin Pagan, Nargiza DaDabaeva, Zachary Koch and Jonathan Desrosiers.