If you’re looking for a skate park to get all that skating out of your system, three skate parks are within a 10-minute drive from the Syracuse University campus. Use the map above to find out more information about each CNY skate park, plus videos about the parks in Syracuse.
Ormond Spencer Park
On Walnut Avenue between Genesee Street and Erie Boulevard, literally within skating distance from campus, is Ormond Spencer Park [11]. This park, once an abandoned tennis court, was turned into a thriving skate park by a group of skaters that continues to grow. It has a true skateboarder's mentality, since the skaters themselves run the park. The park is free and open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Hours: 24/7
Cost: Free
Features: Ramps, rails and boxes all made by skaters themselves.
Black Mamba Skate Park
Located in the Shoppingtown Mall, Black Mamba Skate Park [12] is Syracuse’s only indoor skate park. Also a retail skate shop, the park was recently renovated and features ramps, rails, stairs and anything else you’d need for a session. Also, scooters and rollerblades are allowed. Although the park is usually crowded with younger kids, many college students and older teens do frequent the park.
Hours: Monday-Thursday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Friday-Saturday: Noon to 10 p.m.; Sunday: Noon to 6 p.m
Cost: $7 for two hours
Features: Ramps, rails, stairs
Onondaga Skate Park
Onondaga Lake Park features an outdoor, fully concrete park [13] as long as the weather outside is agreeable for skating. The park, run by Onondaga County, also enforces some rules and regulations that some skaters may not like. It is, however, Syracuse’s biggest skate park so far.
Hours: Monday-Friday, Noon-4:30 p.m.; Saturday-Sunday, Noon-4 p.m., weather permitting. The park closes if the surface is wet or the temperature is below 40 degrees.
Cost: $3 per session
Features: Rails, ramps, boxes and a bowl.
Parks Outside Syracuse
If the three Syracuse skate parks don’t do it for you, or you're looking for something new, there are seven other skate parks within an hours drive from Syracuse. There is a free, outdoor park in Mexico, Freedom Skate Park [14], which also allows BMX bikes. There are two more indoor parks located within a 45 minute drive in Oneida (Oneida Skate Park) and Lansing (East Shore Skate Park [15]). Not only can you skate them yearlong, both also hold occasional competitions and riding sessions. If you’re still itching to skate even more terrain, and willing to drive the extra miles, there are also skate parks in Ithaca [16], Binghamton [17], Cortland, and Rome.
