Correspondent photo / Ben Davis The Youngstown Skatepark Association hosted a free pop-up skatepark Saturday at Borts Field on the city’s West Side that attracted between 25 and 30 participants. The YSA eventually would like a permanent skatepark to be built in the city, as the closest ones now are in New Middletown and Warren.

YOUNGSTOWN — The Youngstown Skatepark Association set up a pop-up skatepark Saturday at Borts Field in Youngstown, which used to house Borts swimming pool on the city’s West Side.

This was a free event for members of the community and turned part of the city park into a temporary skatepark for skaters of all ages and experience. According to YSA’s community engagement chief Sarah Fenton-Niehorster, this is not the first event hosted by YSA, and they’ve hosted similar events around Youngstown previously.

“We do free skatepark pop-up events all over the city of Youngstown for the community so they can get out and do something they haven’t done, or if they know how to do it, it gives them a space to do it in a safe area instead of doing it on the street, or in front of businesses,” Niehorster said.

An overall goal for the YSA is to promote creating a permanent skatepark in Youngstown, with their pop-events being a way to support that endeavor.

“The closest public skatepark is all the way in New Middletown and Warren,” said Zack Felger, chair of YSA’s board of directors. “Our purpose is really just to advocate for a free public concrete skatepark to be built in the city of Youngstown.

“In the interim, we’re doing these pop-up events, really just as a way to get into the various communities throughout Youngstown to show these sides of town something new in terms of recreational opportunities.”

YSA hopes that skating can help promote healthier and more active lifestyles, with Felger arguing that it can help with youth development and prevent young people from becoming too stagnant.

“There’s a little bit too much screen time going on, and we’re all guilty of it. But this is a way to really get kids up and moving in a way that allows us to oversee it, and have them do it safely,” Felger said. “Hopefully once we actually have a free public skatepark, YSA transitions into … overseeing things like skate camps, competitions and ways to just really get that next generation coming out and getting more kids involved, and moving and trying out these different sports, because not every kid likes the traditional sports.”

Felger also believes that skateparks can benefit communities by acting as a cultural center, and allow new people to meet, be more expressive and share ideas.

“Skateparks are sort of like a cultural hub of innovation, whether it’s fashion, whether it’s style, whether it’s just a broader community of people integrating new ideas into various communities, and talking with new people,” Felger said.

“It’s a great thing to see all these people come together in a mash of cultures that really blends well, and spawns this really robust and vibrant cultural hub, and skateparks seem to be a great foundation for the start of that in a lot of communities.”

YSA’s next event is scheduled 1 to 4 p.m. Aug. 22 at Lincoln Park. It will be another pop-up skatepark, with free admission for all ages.