APEX, N.C. — Skateboading’s popularity is growing in North Carolina and across the U.S. It’s one of the fastest-growing sports in the world, according to consumer data company Statista.

The Friends of the Skate Parks Foundation, a North Carolina organization, is working with communities to ramp up the skate scene.

What You Need To Know

  • Eric Tansey is a dad from Clayton who is advocating for a skate park in his town

  • Tansey drives his three sons to the nearest skate park, about an hour away, three or four times a week

  • Tansey is holding a fundraiser in July to raise $1 million for the new skate park in Clayton, which he hopes will be built by 2024

Eric Tansey has three sons, ages 9, 7 and 4. They all love to skate.

“Once they got on the board, and they fell like three or four times, they never ever wanted to stop,” Tansey said. “And it was all day, every day. Can we go to the skate park?”

Tansey takes his children to the skate park three or four times a week. On days when they’re not there, the boys skate in church parking lots or behind grocery stores. The police sometimes respond to trespassing calls about the young skaters.

“Kids are going to skate no matter what. So if there’s no skate park, if there’s no legal place to skate, kids are going to skate wherever they want, whether it’s legal or illegal,” Tansey said.

The Tansey family lives in Clayton. The skate park is far away, and he drive is anywhere from 40 minutes to an hour to get to Apex.

“It’s a nightmare. You got three kids. And then Ashley is pregnant, and it’s an all-day affair,” Tansey said. “So we’re there all day. You have to have everything. If you forget something, you can’t come back to get it. It’s a lot of chaos in the morning.”

Tansey is leading efforts to build a skate park in Clayton, which he says would really benefit the community. He’s surprised by the outpouring of support.

“It was really crazy,” Tansey said. “When we brought this up to the town and how receptive they were. It’s been such a struggle for the last four years, doing this four or five times a week. When we even thought it could be an idea to have a skate park, it seemed unreal at the time.”

Tansey is working with the Friends of the Skate Parks because they have designed the skate parks in Fayetteville and Elizabethtown. Tansey wants Clayton to have its own skate park by 2024.

“Skate parks, they give the town not only something to be a part of, but it’s something to be proud of,” Tansey said.

Tansey formed a committee and has a board of directors. The next step is to meet with the Clayton Town Council on April 18. He’s also planning a fundraiser in July and is hoping to raise around $1 million to build the new skate park.