By Brady Reeves
Austrian Olympic skateboarder Julia Brueckler made her first visit to Cedar Falls Thursday, bringing world-class experience to a community conversation about the future of specialty recreation spaces in town.
A professional skateboarder from Vienna, Brueckler joined the city’s kickoff event called “Your City, Your Parks: Wet. Wheeled. Unleashed.”
In focus were three possible park projects: “Wet,” a splash pad; “Wheeled,” a skate and action sports park; and “Unleashed,” a new dog park.
Brueckler’s impressive credentials offered ample testimony on the importance of creative use of public space where sports passions can be discovered and nurtured. She represented Austria in the first Olympic skateboarding competition at the delayed 2020 Tokyo Games. She has competed internationally in events including X Games, Street League, Dew Tour and other competitions. She won back-to-back World Championship titles for World Cup Skateboarding in 2017 and 2018, followed by a European Championship title in 2018 and an Austrian National Championship in 2020.
Her visit in town lifted the dreams of local skateboarders and families and offered an opportunity for them to connect with an athlete who has competed at the highest level of the sport. It also highlighted the city’s aspirations to build parks for the future and gather feedback of the community’s needs along the way.
“We are extremely excited to welcome Julia to our community,” Cedar Falls Mayor Danny Laudick said in a city press release. “Not only for her accomplishments as an Olympian, but also for her dedication to working with young athletes around the world.”
Laudick said parks are places where communities form, relationships grow and skills develop.
For Cedar Falls, the event brought together a world-class athlete, local park users and city planners around a shared question: what kinds of recreational spaces should the city invest in next?
The event was part of the city’s Specialty Park Assessment, an initiative which grew out of the city’s Park Master Plan, a vision document adopted last year. Residents were invited to weigh in on the priority of each possible park project and identify which amenities mattered most to them within each category. The city is working with the firm Bolton & Menk to study priorities, location options and possible designs for the three park types.
The event was originally scheduled to take place at Overman Park, but heavy rain pushed it to the lobby at City Hall.
There, community members reviewed early renderings for a proposed splash pad, skate and BMX action park, as well as a dog park.
The lobby filled with excitement and curiosity about what the city’s future park spaces could look like.
What’s proposed for the three park spaces
For “Wet,” the posters showed ideas for an openly accessible splash pad, including water-play features, seating, shade and nearby gathering space for families.
For “Wheeled,” the posters focused on possible skate and BMX amenities, including ramps, rails, ledges, banks and other features that could serve riders of different ages and skill levels.
For “Unleashed,” the posters showed potential dog park features, including fenced play areas, separation for large and small dogs, shade, seating and water access.
Residents moved between the boards, placing stickers next to the amenities they wanted to prioritize.
The informal “voting” gave city planners and Bolton & Menk representatives a visual sense of which features community members considered most important.
At the skateboard and BMX boards, some non-skateboarding residents appeared to take cues from riders before casting their votes. Their approach reflected the larger spirit of the event–making sure the people most familiar with each type of park space had a voice in shaping what would best serve the community.
Casey Byers, principal landscape architect with Bolton & Menk, said the three focus areas came directly from that earlier planning process.
“Three of the highest priorities coming out of that planning effort were to come up with a vision and location for a dog park, splash pad and a skate/action sports park,” Byers said.
Byers said the purpose of the current study is to gather feedback from residents about what types of features they want to see within each possible park amenity.
For the “Wheeled” portion, the city is looking at how Cedar Falls could build on its existing skate and BMX offerings. The city currently has the Cedar Falls Skate Park and Tondro Pray BMX Bike Park, both of which grew out of grassroots community efforts and continue to serve local riders.
New or expanded amenities could help build on that existing foundation by creating more room for skateboarders, BMX riders and other wheeled-sports users to gather, practice and grow. Groups such as the CedarLoo Skateboard Association have helped keep the local skate scene active through contests, pop-up events and community gatherings. These additions could create more opportunities for riders across those communities to host events, attract visitors from surrounding areas and connect right here in Cedar Falls.
What a skateboard Olympian brings to the conversation
Beyond her competition history, Brueckler and her husband offer their skate park design expertise to Bolton & Menk as the firm works with Cedar Falls on possible concepts for the city’s future skate and action sports park.
Through work connected to American Ramp Company, the pair have been involved in skate park design, planning and community engagement, including reviewing concept drawings, attending public input meetings and helping communities think through how skate parks can serve riders of different ages and skill levels.
While Brueckler’s appearance brought an Olympic spotlight to the event, the larger initiative extends beyond skateboarding.
The “Wet” portion of the project focuses on the possibility of an openly accessible splash pad. The city says Cedar Falls currently provides access to natural water amenities but does not have an openly accessible splash pad, which could provide residents with another way to stay cool and active during hot weather.
The “Unleashed” portion focuses on the possibility of adding a new dog park. According to the city, data gathered through the Park Master Plan showed that residents who participated in the planning process wanted more dog parks closer to home.
The plan recommends identifying a location and developing additional dog park facilities, either within an existing park or as part of new park development.
Public input will play a major role in the process.
The June 4 event was the first public outreach opportunity for the project, but residents can also provide feedback through an online survey open through June 11.
The city has posted more information about “Wet. Wheeled. Unleashed.” on its website, where residents can learn more about the project and complete the public survey.
That feedback will be considered alongside a site suitability study, as Bolton & Menk reviews existing parks to determine which locations may be best suited for each type of specialty park.
Byers, the architect, said the team expects to return to the community later this summer with preliminary recommendations and another opportunity for public feedback.
Strong skate parks often include staple features, such as a good ledge, flat bar, quarter pipe and bank ramp, Brueckler said. But the way those features come together , she added, should be shaped by the people who will actually use the space.
“There’s no such thing as a perfect skate park,” Brueckler said. “What makes a skate park perfect is what makes it perfect for a community. You learn that by bringing the people in.”
