Thomas Greene Park may not have a proper skate park — yet — but that didn’t stop sleight-footed skateboarders from doing their thing on Saturday at the second annual Gowanus Grind.
In fact, you didn’t even have to know a fakie from a frontside to join in the fun at the sometimes-forgotten park on Third Avenue, between Douglass and Degraw streets, where visitors watched and cheered on urban jocks, who tailslid and goofy-footed up ramps and rails set up for the day, which celebrated the space’s future as a true neighborhood playpen.
Six-year-old skater Matthew Siegel of Park Slope tested his moves in front of pro Mike Crowley, 22, who gave him some pointers on how to tweak his pops and ollies.
Elsewhere on the congrete green, Cobble Hill visitor Declan Sheehy-Moss, 9, had a ball showing off his baseball skills.
Live music by Sonic Smithy of Boerum Hill, art activities and a free skate board clinic sponsored by Homage, the skate board shop on Smith Street, capped the spectacle, which also featured food donated by the Wyckoff Houses Tenants Association and Building on Bond.
The park is among the stops on the Greenlane network of skate plazas in underserved neighborhoods, and will feature skate elements by the summer thanks to a large donation of cash by the Tony Hawk Foundation and Open Road.
“These plazas are intended to attract everyone from your grandmother, to your mother, your baby and you,” said Open Road’s Paula Hewitt.
