Ollie you need is love: Skate shop nurtures all-ages skater community

The kids call her the “Skater Whisperer,” “Our Skateboard Parent," or they greet her every afternoon with a “Hey, homie!”

She calls herself a “street teacher,” but today, let’s call her Laura Lutz, co-owner of The Siouxer Sk8 and Shop indoor skate park and founder of The Boardega, a summer pop-up across the street from the Barb Iverson Skate Park. The park hits its one-year anniversary next month.

She opened The Boardega in May, where a tight-knit group of kids “hang” in between skate sessions. They grab bottled water or bottled iced coffee (“Remember to recycle those!”), Freeze Pops, a Twix bar or Jessup grip tape for a new board.

These skaters will hang out all afternoon during the warm summer days, maybe well into the evening until Mom calls asking them to come home.

“Honestly, we’re a family,” Lutz said. “I love it when these guys come down. I love it when we can play Uno outside. These kids are just looking for a safe place to go.”

Let’s Skate and The Siouxer strengthen skating community

The skateboarding culture in Sioux Falls is thriving right now. After the Let’s Skate nonprofit, formerly known as the Sioux Falls Skatepark Association, spent years fundraising for the Barb, skaters have flocked to the 30,000-square-foot, professional-grade concrete park, one of the largest in the country that includes bowls, grind rails, stair sets and railings.

On Friday nights, at least 50 to 100 riders will be dropping their boards.

The Barb has indefinitely changed the scene, but The Siouxer Sk8 and Shop did that, too.

Years before, families were “dusting off their skateboards,” taking lessons and attending open skate nights at The Siouxer, which opened in 2013 and is north of 12th Street and Kiwanis Avenue.

DJ Paronto, Lutz’s partner and co-founder of the indoor park, has been formally teaching summer camps and weekly lessons for two years now. Parents bring in ages 4 and older for Skater Tots, Big Critters or Belladonna Seedlings.

Much like Lutz’s Boardega, these students come to a special place where they feel seen, encouraged and safe.

“This is the most positive environment of any other sports that we do,” said Ann Kolbrek, who brings in her two daughters ages 8 and 5 to classes every Thursday. “It’s so supportive, everybody gets along and the parents cheer on everybody’s kids.”

Paronto, who built all the quarter pipes and banks at The Siouxer warehouse himself, said the skateboarding community affords personal growth and nurtures confidence, resilience and determination “needed to navigate the real world.”

“Remember, you control the skateboard,” he told his student Nora, 8, who was next in line for her turn at a drop-in. “Just give it one attempt.”

She bit her nails in hesitation, then nailed it.

“See? Of course, you just did that. Now get back in line, and let’s do it again,” Paronto said.

He has created a pastime that can last a lifetime here.

What’s next for the skating community?

The Let’s Skate nonprofit was founded in 2017 with a mission to foster a “vibrant and inclusive community.” The group raised more than $2.5 million for The Barb and are now hoping to install shade structures, increase community outreach, to distribute free skateboards to schools and to work with the City of Sioux Falls to create more “skate-able” options at neighborhood parks.

“Barb’s Park is just the beginning of what could be possible for skateboarding in Sioux Falls,” said Let’s Skate board president Andy Howes.

Lutz, who also is on the nonprofit board and was once a student of the late Barb Iverson, said she’s seen many new faces at the Barb this past year and more recently at the Boardega. Seasoned riders bring their friends from school or their soccer team, or they show up with a sibling in tow. It’s growing so “naturally,” Lutz said.

And she mothers them all.

Brothers Travarious and Truveen Robinson, ages 11 and 12, started visiting The Boardega recently and have settled in for the summer.

Eleven-year-old skater Sawyer Putnam, who met his new friend Edgar “Edgnar” Hate, age 15, at Barb’s, comes for the jokes and fun in between “sending” tricks.

“I’ve started taking skating really seriously,” said Putnam, who recently mastered kickflips and will attend Edison Middle School in the fall.

“I love it here,” he said. “Laura always makes sure we’re OK.”

About Go Skate Day

Paronto and Lutz, along with their two teenage daughters Scout and Willow Kneip, will attend Go Skate Day (now rescheduled to a later date due to heat on June 21), a global celebration of skateboarding. At the Barb, there’ll be vendors, live music by Soulcrate’s DJ Absolute, food trucks and skate competitions held by Paronto and fellow coaches from The Siouxer.

The Boardega will have a pop-up, selling top brands like Anti-Hero, Real, Zero, Spitfire and Primitive. Lutz will have hugs and high-fives, too.

“Skateboarding in the ’90s did not have the best reputation,” Lutz said. “But now so many more organizations (like The Siouxer and Let’s Skate) are creating awareness around mental health support, addiction recovery or depression.

“You don’t know what background these kids are coming from, but there is perseverance behind all of this,” she said. “It’s very hopeful here.”