If all goes according to plan, Lifland Skatepark will see a significant expansion, giving greater access and opportunities for biking and skateboarding enthusiasts of all ages and experience levels.

Opened in 2012, the park seeks to “provide a safe and inclusive outdoor place where people of all ages and abilities can creatively engage in skateboarding, BMX, rollerblading and other sports,” according to its mission statement.

The genesis of the park began when former city Mayor Gabriel Campana reached out to area schools in an effort to find out what recreational opportunities students were most interested in seeing developed, according to Lifland Skatepark Inc. leader Lonnie Wilcox, a longtime BMX and skateboarding participant.

Through his efforts, Campana recognized that hundreds of area youths shared the same passions as Wilcox.

“We had been sort of planning it, and we were able to come up with a few thousand dollars, but never enough to really start building anything,” he said, noting that one of the requirements, an eight foot fence surrounding the park, would cost $10,000 alone.

Around 2008, Wilcox was working as a graphic designer for The Williamsport Guardian, and in his spare time, had written an article on the state of his efforts.

After submitting his story to proofreader Sally Lifland Butterfield, Wilcox got an unexpected offer.

“Sally’s mother had died recently, and she wanted to donate some of her mother’s money to a good cause, so she called me and said, ‘hey, would $40,000 help your skate park effort.’ I was just blown away,” he explained.

Following up on a suggestion from Larson Design Group about a volunteer effort to build a similar park in Danville for $16,000, Wilcox contacted Chad Gorby, of Blue Seal Concrete and secured a contract for the park’s construction, with a budget of $52,000 budget.

“We were able to make it almost a do it yourself project. Once we secured a lease from the city and got the go ahead, these two guys worked for almost a year for around $12,000 so I put them up in my house so they had a place to stay for the time that they were here helping, and with $50 grand, we were able to do a lot,” Wilcox explained.

“But the problem with only having $50,000 is that we only got half of the park that we wanted built,” he added, noting that the current park consists of more elaborate features such as transitional obstacles, which not every skateboarder is interested.

“We always had a plan to build a second section specifically for the street kids, that could mimic the things that are downtown, like bars, ledges, steps, handrails and things like that,” Wilcox said.

Despite persistant fundraising efforts, the park was able to raise only the funds necessary for the park’s upkeep, resultiung in its temporary closure in 2016, at which point the city agreed to foot the bill for its insurance costs.

“They were able to get a much better deal than we ever could get, and we’ve had a great relationship with the new mayor,” Wilcox said.

Recently, additional funding opportunities have revitalized Wilcox’s efforts to implement the phase two expansion.

“The city was able to get a grant for a pump track that’s going in at Shaw Park, which is for mountain bikes, BMX bikes, skateboards, you name it, as phase one of this grant,” Wilcox explained.

Wilcox hopes to capitalize on phase two of the grant in order to flesh out Lifland.

Brad Siedlecki, of Pillar Designs, who created the plans for Shaw Park, has been brought on board to help with the project.

“We’re going to be building beginner-type stuff that’s going to be accessible more to young people that are just starting out, and older people that are trying to still get away with it,” Wilcox said.

The expansion will also allow riders to partake in more basic street-styled options such as grinds and slides,” which Wilcox sees as not only benefiting riders, but business owners and the community ast large.

“If we can create an area that has all the features that you find in front of storefronts and in downtown areas, then we can save some of that from actually happening downtown and risking pedestrians and potential accidents,” he said.

Wilcox sees a lot of wind in the sails of the project from city leaders.

“Mayor Slaughter’s been great, and then meeting with economic development team, I can’t say how positive they were. Everybody understands the need for it. Obviously there’s ton of kids that need to get outside and get some exercise,” he said, adding that this attitude is in stark contrast to the positions held by city leaders in the past, including some with reservations when the current park was first envisioned.

“When I was young, older people didn’t like skateboarding BMX, but now people my age have kids that are into it, and the resistances is gone,” Wilcox said.

For Wilcox, a lifelong biking enthusiast, who moved to the area in 1987, the shared comraderie of those that ride is well worth the effort to make projects and expansions such as this possible.

“Moving here from Canton, was kind of overwhelming, but luckily, I had BMX skateboarding and met a ton of people right off the bat,” he said.

“Me and a few of the kids that I’ve been riding with since 1987 still ride every Sunday, so we do have some stake in this game as far as time put in and trying to go the extra mile to provide a place for everyone to be able to do it here,” Wilcox said, while jokingly noting that they are all in their 50’s at this point.

“We kiddingly refer to ourselves as the old heads trick team, but, we still have fun with it. We’re obviously not as agile as we once were, but we celebrate with beer afterwards and make a ritual of it,” he said.

But with that age and experience comes the opportunity to share it with the younger generation of riders.

“A lot of times you’ll see the older guys helping out the young guys, teaching them a thing or two, or working with them, pushing them to try more difficult things. Its pretty neat to see,” Wilcox said.

“Its an exciting time. At long last, Williamsport is going to have so many opportunities and so many improved parks because of the mayor and the things his administration is doing right now,” he added.

While plans for the phase two expansion are still in the approval phase, Wilcox said they should have an answer by April, with completion expected as soon as 2027.