Park renaming pays tribute to late councillor, skateboard enthusiast

By Justin Seward - Lethbridge Herald on July 25, 2023.

Herald photo by Justin Seward Current and past councillors joined members of the Galloway family Saturday for the renaming of the Wade Galloway Skate Park.

A late city businessman and government leader was honoured by the City on Saturday with the grand renaming event of the skateboard park at the corner of Mayor Magrath and South Parkside Drives.

It is now officially the Wade Galloway Skatepark.

The renaming of the park was in honour Galloway, a city councillor and skateboard enthusiast who died in an avalanche while snowboarding in Waterton in February 2014, just months after winning a seat in the 2013 municipal election.

Mayor Blaine Hyggen was a personal friend of Galloway’s and was on hand for the ribbon-cutting ceremony.

“It puts into perspective all of the hard work that’s been done by Wade and those that he surrounded himself with – the skate organizations that he worked with – and you know starting Boarderline (skate shop) way back when,” said Hyggen.

“And to see Boarderline still here today and the work that he did to bring this to fruition is just incredible. It’s a small part, of course, of what Wade’s ideas were for this community and sadly his life was taken only a few months after he was elected into council. I remember just a few days before his passing, we were chatting about different things, and different directions and beyond the skatepark. And he was an idea person and he’s someone that I think of all the time, you know, when I make decisions at council or talk with prior colleagues.”

Hyggen thought the only reason why the skateboard is here is because of Galloway and the fundraising he did with his different businesses.

“He was a philanthropist,” said Hyggen.

“He donated so much of his personal business growth and dollars to making this come to pass. And he knew the people to connect with to be able to design it (and) to do different fundraising.”

There is a sponsorship agreement between the city and the Wade Galloway Foundation for $275,000 over 20-years for the skateboard park.

The sponsorship agreement includes a 20-year deal at $12,500 per year for the first 10 years and $15,000 per year for the next 10 years.

“It is my hope that those dollars are used to be able to help either expand this park, keep it maintained (and) do different things, said Hyggen.

“I know when we were walking over here and one of the skaters said would it be great if we had this, and I won’t say the names because I don’t even know what they’re called. So they’re going to get some plans and send them off to me. So we have that opportunity to really investigate that. Use the dollars to expand it because I’m sure that’s what Wade would’ve liked.”

Galloway’s father, Bill, spoke on behalf of the family of what the day meant to them.

“I guess there’s a feeling of bittersweetness in that we’re here because of an incident that happened nine years ago plus ,” said Bill.

“So for that we’re saddened, obviously. But we’re very happy and blessed that we were able to do what we had done in the renaming process as a family. We appreciate the city working with us in that regard and we hope that the park is here for many, many, many years for the enjoyment of all, young and old.”

Bill considered Wade to be underprivileged when it came to his passion for skateboarding.

“We lived on a farm and the only concrete was a deck around the house and a pad in front of our shop,” said Bill.

“So he learned with the minimal of things to work on. But he enjoyed it and he wanted to ensure that his family and the family of all others had a proper place to enjoy the sport ,and that’s what drove him and eventually wound up in the construction of this park.”