Jeff Tatum is "the original longboarder", but isn't one of those dudes that sit on their laurels and talk about glory days instead of skating.  JT rips it daily, and has recently been on the road, working with skatepark owners and designers.  Recently, his travels took him to a town outside Omaha, Nebraska and when he got back he was so stoked about the skatepark scene there that he sent another of his reviews in: 

Vinny's Skatepark

Papillion, Nebraska 

A buddy of mine and Pool King team photog, Mark Fountain, lives in Nebraska.  Mark told me about a skatepark being built in Nebraska and that the owner, Vince Serratore, needed someone to do his whole art campaign for the park stickers, tshirts, banners, logos etc.  So, Mark hooked me up with Vinny and I got the gig.  I flew out to Omaha, then drove about 20 minutes over to a town called Papillion, where Vinny’s Skatepark occupies 7,000 square feet in what looks like it used to be a small warehouse.  Vinny turned out to be a real cool guy and once he learned of my skate history he asked me if I would sign autographs and do a skate demo with the Pool King Nebraska dudes.  I was impressed with the facility and thought you skaters on Silverfish might enjoy another skatepark review, so here it is!

I got there four days early to set up some Pool King displays in the pro shop and paint a few murals on the walls surrounding the bowl. The pro shop is top notch, quality and fully stocked. Vinny applied and got accepted to carry Vans shoes and merchandise which takes a quality venue for acceptance .Vinny started this park from the ground up, building and all. It’s an indoor wood park that Vinny purchased plans for and elaborated on.

Vinny is a master craftsman and did a killer quality job building this park. There are a few quarter pipe ramps on either side of the building seven to ten foot that you can work back and forth. There’s an extra small mini ramp great for starting kiddies at about two feet and a small flip-n-rail area with a rail, box, seven steps, two quarter pipe ramps (one three and the other five feet high) and next to that is the gnarliest vert quarter ramp --more like a wall ride-- with eight feet of vert. In the back of the building is a wooden bowl that’s so well made, smooth, and fun. I was very impressed. It’s shaped like a letter B with six and five foot ends, no waterfall, just a slightly slanted bottom. This bowl is fairly small but fun as heck with no slow spots and fast flowing, good lines. It has huge three inch coping that’s almost like riding pool coping.

Next to the bowl are some stairs with an odd but fun little trickster half pipe with a small ledge. The bowl is elevated higher than everything else since the park is built on a cement floor. In front of the bowl there are plans for a mini volcano that may be put in by now. Everything except the bowl has two inch metal coping. This place has big time heating for snowy days and a killer sound system to boot. Theres also a spectator area upstairs with tables, benches, video games and snack machines which gives a full and comfortable view of the whole park.

 

Vinny, his wife Karen, and Todd the manager/avid skateboard collector/rad rockabilly musician run the place and are really good, very cool people. This is the first wood park I’ve reviewed, so I’m using a different attitude than I would for cement. When judging this park, I wouldn’t call this an overall longboard park but half of the ramps are very “longboardable” and the bowl is killer fun for everything. The whole park is great for tricksters.

Being a Cali boy I haven’t skated many indoor parks.  It was different, and cool. Due to the killer pro shop, high quality ramp and bowl construction, nice sound system and awesome friendly atmosphere, I give Vinny’s Skatepark a TEN on a scale from one to ten. When you’re working with wood it’s hard to compete with the outcome that’s possible with cement but Vinny’s is about as good as you can get, especially with the space given. It’s not a big place but not small either. If you like eclectic skating with cool people Vinny’s Skatepark is the place to be in Nebraska.  If you're anywhere near Omaha, "bad weather" means nothing:  Vinny's is heated and indoors!   Check them out at Vinny's Skatepark.com.