'Go Skateboarding Day' Celebration in Chatham Twp.

Nine months after they first started their campaign to save the Chatham Skate Park, Mimi Mehta and Mary Rohe are seeing their work bear fruit.

The two women appeared before the Chatham Township Committee Thursday to invite the members to attend a Go Skateboarding Day celebration from 11:45 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday.

"For us this is a culmination of the fundraising effort we've undertaken with your authorization and guidance to help revitalize the park," Mehta said.

Go Skateboarding Day was founded by the International Association of Skateboard Companies (IASC) to promote skateboarding as a pasttime and sport. It is usually celebrated around June 21, and has been celebrated in the US since 2004.

To mark the 10th celebration this year, the Smithsonian Museum will hold a Go Skateboarding Day celebration on the National Mall. The Chatham Skate Park Committee will host a similar celebration at the Chatham Skate Park on Southern Boulevard.

"Mostly it's just going to be a great day," Mehta said. "It's a celebration designed to be fun for skateboarders, family and friends."

Festivities will open with a "skate take-over" of Southern Boulevard, Mehta said. Skateboarders who wish to participate can meet at Nash Field on Southern Boulevard in Chatham and skate along Southern Boulevard to the skate park at 11:45.

Once the skaters arrive the celebrations will continue. A professional skating team from New York City, 5BORO, will give skating demonstrations for the young skaters of the area.

The event will also feature a Best Trick Contest, to be held jam-style with categories based on abilities. The entrance fee for the contest is $5.

"We'll have music, food, a lot of food being donated by local businesses, so come and eat, and we're going to have give-aways," Mehta said.

The Chatham Skate Park Committee is going through improvements funded by donations from the public, the Chatham Athletic Foundation and other local organizations. Repairs include a new skating surface and improvements to the deteriorated ramps. Mehta and Rohe took it upon themselves to lobby for the improvements after the park closed last year on the recommendation of the insurance carrier.

“The park provides a safe place, off busy streets and sidewalks, where children, teens and young adults can come together and practice their sport,” Mehta said. “We encourage the local community to come out for a day of fun and to see what the individual sport of skateboarding is all about – it is a great celebration of independence.”