SOUP’S ON!
SOUP’S ON!
Ellicottville Skatepark Committee (SK8EVL) reschedules Soup-to-Skate fundraising event.
It’s a growing sport. One that has no boundaries. Skateboarding welcomes everyone, regardless of age, race, or tax bracket.
Public skateparks are popping up in communities across the U.S., encouraging our youth to get outdoors and be active. It’s an affordable sport that can cut down on your child’s screen time, while providing them with much-needed exercise in a world that heavily depends on technology for entertainment. The best part … it’s a great way to make new friends.
The Village of Ellicottville, in partnership with a group of local skateboarding advocates dubbed SK8EVL, were awarded a “Built to Play” Skatepark Grant through the Tony Hawk Foundation (now known as The Skatepark Project) and the Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Foundation. These Built to Play Skatepark Grants offer up to $250,000 in matching funds to help communities across Western New York and eastern Michigan build permanent, outdoor concrete skateparks for the public to use free of charge. Through the same grant program, Ellicottville also received a $50,000 Environmental Impact Award to fund processes and design features that would lessen the environmental impact of the proposed skatepark.
Fundraising efforts were underway as soon as Ellicottville received approval of the grant last November. Under the grant contract, projects have one year to fundraise as much as possible towards the match. This puts Ellicottville’s fundraising deadline at November 30, 2020. That’s next month!
While the SK8EVL committee started out strong with advocacy and fundraising at the beginning of last ski season, it all came to a standstill mid-March when Covid took over the country. Four short months of fundraising activity followed by a nationwide shutdown has made fundraising efforts for the remainder of this year quite a challenge, but project advocates have creatively navigated other avenues, including a request-for-donation mailer, a take-out chicken BBQ, and a commemorative brick campaign. There is one event, however, that SK8EVL planned back in March which was cancelled due to the pandemic, which they are excited to give another go … SOUP-to-SKATE.
Rescheduled for Sunday, Nov. 8th from 1:00-4:00pm inside the Rotary Auditorium at the Town Center (next to the arboretum), SOUP-to-SKATE will showcase handmade ceramic bowls created by local school students, delicious soups and chili donated by local restaurants, and basket raffles with great prizes donated by many local businesses and community members. The original SOUP-to-SKATE event invited supporters to enjoy a sit-down soup tasting and soup & chili cook-off, complete with good company, live music and on-site raffles. The Nov. 8th venue will look a bit different due to social distancing regulations, but the mission remains the same: “Let’s Build a Skatepark.”
“This is a truly unique community fundraiser that showcases the creativity of our local students, along with delicious recipes from our sponsoring restaurants, Ellicottville Brewing Company, Dina’s, and Katy’s Cafe,” said Rachel Elser, SK8EVL committee member. “Last winter, students from Ellicottville Central and Allegany-Limestone Central started creating ceramic bowls specifically for this event, using clay and other materials donated by Hog Shed Studio Pottery of East Otto and Ellicottville resident Greg Cappelli. Their efforts got cut short when everything closed down, and unfortunately, with no one allowed in classrooms for quite some time, some of the material and unfinished pieces went to waste.”
When schools re-opened their doors for the 2020-21 school year, the question was posed: Was there enough material remaining to complete the mission? Art teachers Deb McGowan of ECS and Nicole Missel of Allegany-Limestone evaluated their supply and, along with their students, are now in high gear to finish as many bowls as they are able with what material was salvageable. Knowing that bowls will be limited, Horn Hill Pottery of Ellicottville stepped up to the plate and has committed to helping the cause by creating an additional supply of bowls for the event.
“We are grateful for Horn Hill Pottery’s willingness to hop onboard and help our cause,” said Elser. “Owner Edward Doherty and his family recently returned from India and is currently in the middle of building his Ellicottville studio. We can’t thank him enough for his support of this project and willingness to help out.”
Being hosted as an indoor, in-person event, attendees should note that masks will be required to enter, and there will be a separate entrance and exit, with “stations” set up from one end to the other to help participants maintain a safe distance from one another.
Upon arrival to the event, attendees will get to choose a one-of-a-kind ceramic bowl and purchase their basket raffle tickets. Then they will make their way through the different “stations” … project information booth, t-shirt and brick order sales table, the basket raffles, and lastly, before exiting, they will choose their soup/chili of choice, which will be provided to-go. Winners of the basket raffles will be pulled at the end of the event, with winners’ names posted on SK8EVL’s Facebook page.
Soup bowl tickets are available and can be purchased for $25 in advance by reaching out to any SK8EVL committee member or by calling SK8EVL lead advocate Brenda Perks at 716-244-7573. You can also stop by the ellicottvilleNOW office at 9 W. Washington Street (across the hall from the Ellicottville Chamber of Commerce) to purchase or pick up pre-paid tickets. Credit card, PayPal and Venmo (@ellicottville-skatepark) can be used as form of payment; pre-paid tickets can also be mailed. Any remaining tickets will be available at the door. Anyone can come in and participate in the basket raffles, regardless of soup bowl tickets.
“We collected approximately 30 prizes for the basket raffles back in March,” said Elser. “We’ve hung onto them this whole time in hopes that we’d be able to reschedule this event. We are ecstatic to be able to offer these great prizes.”
Any person or business interested in donating to the basket raffles can do so by calling or texting the number above or by emailing ellicottvilleskatepark@gmail.com.
To date, SK8EVL has raised $61,000 in donations, commitments and pledges. With Covid providing the ultimate challenge in SK8EVL’s fundraising goal, and with the fundraising deadline just around the corner, the committee is encouraging everyone with a love for Ellicottville to show their support in any way they can. If you aren’t able to attend SOUP-to-SKATE, other donation opportunities are available, including a direct donation to SK8EVL’s fund set up at the Cattaraugus Region Community Foundation (www.cattfoundation.org), purchasing a commemorative brick which will be installed in the area of the skatepark (link at sk8evl.com) or for those looking to make a substantial donation, a sponsorship brochure can be obtained via the sk8evl.com website or by calling 716-244-7573 or emailing ellicottvilleskatepark@gmail.com. Every dollar donated will be matched 100% by The Skatepark Project/Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Foundation.
