LIIDLII KUE/FORT SIMPSON - Fort Simpson's planned skateboard park has been a source of frustration for the community's recreation director.

Nathan McPherson, who has been spearheading the project, said the company he is dealing with seems unable to deliver the park to the village

Skateboarder Jordan Isaiah takes a jump off the curb at Bompas Elementary School. In spite of the troubles Fort Simpson has had at getting a skate park, he's happy just to have pavement to skate on. - Tim Edwards/NNSL photo

"They've given us lots of excuses and stories," said McPherson. "They had to recount the pieces, we had too many, then we didn't have enough, and they sent it to the wrong place."

The park was supposed to have arrived in by early June, and allow community skateboarders the whole summer to use the facility.

Now, with snow on the ground, McPherson is thinking about cancelling the order.

"If it doesn't come in soon, we're going to cancel it and get our money back and talk to our lawyer," McPherson said at the end of September.

"There are a lot of people I've talked to who are surprised that we haven't done it already."

The park was slated to go in the 50-by-100-foot lot beside the recreation centre, where the old tennis courts were.

Mcpherson said the skate park would have been complete with "a four-foot-by-12-foot half pipe, there's a five-foot-by-eight-foot quarter pipe, a four-foot-by-eight-foot bank, a two-foot pyramid with a deck, a bank, and a full grind rail."

Also included in the plane were a skate table, a grind bench, a bank and curved launch, a 10-foot grind rail, and a 10-foot kinked grind rail.

"We got a lot of input from Sean Gillis (rec centre employee), as well as skateboarders around town, for the design of the park," added McPherson.

The project, funded by the village, cost about $50,000, but McPherson said the village may just get a refund.

"It's been a pretty frustrating year for the skate park," he said.

Mark Hall, the village's senior administrative officer, could not be reached for comment by press time. Phone calls to Brand X Ramps, the Edmonton-based company that the village is dealing with, were not returned.

Despite no skate park and cool temperatures, Jordan Isaiah was out on Saturday skateboarding in the parking lots of the two schools in Fort Simpson.

Isaiah said he's glad there's at least a pad of pavement he can skate on. Many communities in the North only have gravel, he added.

"I just skateboard for myself and try to inspire the young kids to start skating," said Isaiah, who was honing his skills after taking a hiatus from the sport.