The cold did not deter Newtown skate park goers on Saturday, October 17. Even with the frigid wind, skaters of all ages came out for the annual Fall Skate Jam held at Dickinson Memorial Park’s skate park. Rich Beck, owner of Swimming Co, organizes a skate jam every year with Newtown Parks & Recreation. This year, there was a bigger focus on community.

Beck explained that the skate jam is a fundraiser to put funds directly back into the park via additions or repairs. He added that the goal is to “bring people out” and “get kids hyped up on skateboarding.” Onlookers could tell by watching for even just one rip through the park that Beck was achieving his goal.

The skate park has a memorial for Thomas Capozziello, or Tom Capps, a driving force behind the skate park’s creation and installation. Beck said the jam is another way to keep “our buddy Tom’s name alive.” Beck said he wants the skaters to “appreciate the place and take care of it.”

As mentioned, community was at the center of this year’s skate jam. Beck explained that Newtown’s skate park is the closest skate park for a lot of skaters. Skateboarders from Bethel, Danbury, Easton, Trumbull, and Newtown were at the park on that chilly Saturday.

“This is the closest park for them,” Beck said. “It’s a different sense of community than most. We get so many [people] from other areas [that] don’t know each other outside of skating. [They have] become friends through skating.”

The event was broken into three sections: beginner, intermediate, and advanced jams. The skaters who participated in each tier had full use of the park while Beck and announcer AJ Wall looked on, observing the tricks throughout the park.

Before the beginner jam, Beck informed The Newtown Bee that a local Newtown High School senior, Logan Ausderan, was doing his senior capstone project in collaboration with the Fall Skate Jam.

Ausderan has only been skating for about a year, but he said that he “really like[s] being a part of it.” Originally, Ausderan wanted to organize the event, but realized Beck had already begun planning it. Instead, he worked with fellow Newtown High student Tristan Ortiz to create custom skateboards and raffled them off during the event.

“I was like, ‘All right, what can I do instead?’ So I had the idea to raffle off skateboards, and I was going to do that to raise money for the park,” Ausderan said. “I know a lot of little things can be fixed … that mini ramp over there has got a bunch of cracks in it, people fall all the time. So I kind of wanted to raise money just to make it safer and make it so it’s just a better place to skate, really.”

Ausderan worked closely with Beck and Ortiz to create the boards. There were a few other items for purchase during the jam, which were all created in the park. Screen-printed tote bags and prints from local artist Lexie Gonzalez were handmade at the scene where everything happens for the skaters: Newtown’s skate park.

“I think it turned out fantastic,” Ausderan said of the custom boards. He said his goal was to raise at least $100 for the park. Raffle tickets were $10 apiece and he also accepted donations separate from the raffle. In total, by the end of the event, he raised $300. Beck raised another $200 or so by himself, so the grand total raised for the skate park was $500.

Despite Ausderan saying he “sucked” at skateboarding, his friends egged him on and encouraged him to join the beginner skate jam, perfectly demonstrating what he came to learn of the skating community in Newtown.

“I like to stay on the sidelines and kind of help where I can. That’s why I wanted to do this,” Ausderan explained. “When I would first come here, I would see all the people stare at me as I drove by, even as a young kid even if I was just going to the park … I got into that … I was scared of them! And then, when I got to it, it was like, ‘Oh my God, this is a great place.’ So I feel like I wanted to make it more welcoming, and that was kind of my goal. I’m not the best skater, but I really like being a part of it.”

Ausderan wound up taking home third place in the beginner skate jam later that day. Everett Dore won second, and Tyler Leonard won first.

In the intermediate jam, Talia Feher won third, Nicholas Seidita won second, and Andrew Armigos won first.

The third-place advanced jam winner was Heitor Britis, last year’s first place winner; second went to Mikey Schlesinger; and first place went to Jose Torres Belran for a gnarly kickflip over the six-stair.

Ausderan also pulled the raffle for the custom boards. The first raffle prize went to Brody Sharon.

Skateboarders continued to absolutely rip through the park after all the winners were announced and the boards were raffled off. Wall encouraged the skaters to keep skating because “skating is awesome.”

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Reporter Sam Cross can be reached at sam@thebee.com.