Drive east on Market Street past Richardson-Dubois Park this week and you'll see a gray concrete bowl where the outfield used to be. A four-foot wall runs along the south side. Rails are bolted in, light poles are up, and fresh topsoil covers the ground where the old softball diamond sat. At the Warsaw Parks and Recreation Board's Oct. 20 meeting, Superintendent of Parks Larry Plummer reported that all of the concrete had been poured and the railing, lighting and camera cabling were installed. Signs were scheduled to go up on Wednesday, Oct. 21.
A board member asked Plummer whether people keep asking when it will open. His answer, as InkFreeNews reported: "Yes, we have a lot of people who are just itching to go at it." No opening date has been announced yet. Warsaw has had a skate park for about 30 years. What the city spent six years working toward was a better location for it.
Thirty years at the edge of town
The park this one replaces is Mantis Skate Park at 400 Little League Drive, in Boggs Industrial Park on the city's west side. It opened more than 30 years ago. When the city first made its case for moving it, back in October 2020, officials gave InkFreeNews this list of problems at the Boggs site:
- Asphalt that was deteriorating and cracked
- Water pooling on the riding surface
- Ramps sinking, which created hazards
- Maintenance that never let up
- No running water and no public restrooms
When the parks department picked up the effort again in 2025, it called the old site industrial and the Market Street site more central and easier to reach from nearby neighborhoods. Patching asphalt could have handled some of the 2020 complaints. The bigger ones, like no water, no restrooms and a location in an industrial park, could only be fixed by building somewhere else.
Why the move took six years
The city first tried to relocate the skate park in 2019. That attempt stalled when a state DNR grant didn't come through. The October 2020 push to find grant money didn't get the park built either. The money finally came together in spring 2026. On April 2, the Board of Public Works and Safety accepted a grant from the K21 Health Foundation and approved a construction agreement with American Ramp Company, which designed the park.
According to InkFreeNews coverage of the award, the concrete construction contract was split like this:
| Source | Amount |
|---|---|
| K21 Health Foundation | $275,000 |
| Dekko Foundation | $40,000 |
| Kosciusko County Community Foundation | $19,984.33 |
| Warsaw Parks budget | $130,015.67 |
| Concrete construction contract | $465,000 |
The three foundation grants add up to $334,984.33, about 72% of the concrete contract. The full project is projected at $550,785. The extra money covers asphalt, lights and security cameras, and city crews are handling the paving and electrical work themselves. That works out to roughly 60 cents of every project dollar coming from local foundations. Without those foundations, this would have been the third proposal since 2019 to stall.
What the Market Street site adds
Richardson-Dubois Park already has basketball courts, a playground, open space, parking, picnic tables, a shelter and restrooms. The lack of restrooms was one of the city's original complaints about Mantis. At the new site, the restrooms were already there.
In April, officials described the new site as close to Lakeview Middle School, Lincoln, Sacred Heart, nearby neighborhoods and downtown. Plummer told News Now Warsaw that the site sits along a bike route, and he said trail access is "really what intrigued K21." Earlier coverage placed the field near a Dollar General and a shopping center. Fill dirt for the field came from Martin's Supermarket. A kid who used to need a ride out to Little League Drive can now skate there from much of central Warsaw.
Here's what's going into the footprint, which measures about 177 by 60 feet:
- A concrete bowl, the centerpiece
- Ramps built into the layout, not set on top of a slab
- Grind rails and other obstacles
- Lights so the park can be used after dark
- Security cameras
The park will follow regular park hours, 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., and Plummer said the lights will stay on after dark during those hours. A preliminary description in 2025 mentioned a fence and a rotating gate. By July 2026, plans called for the park to be unfenced and unsupervised. So the bowl will be open the same way the basketball courts beside it are.
Concrete also handles the site's drainage problem better than asphalt did out at Boggs. When board members asked about water in April, Plummer said it drains back to the wetland behind the park. Soil tests led the city to put in a geogrid system under the slab. Crews laid that geogrid in July.
The field under the bowl has a name
The ground under the new bowl was known as Liz Frazier Field, a girls softball diamond at the west end of the park. The field hadn't been used for many years. According to her June 3, 1981 notice in The Mail-Journal, Elizabeth "Liz" Ann Frazier was a lifelong Warsaw resident and a 1981 graduate of Warsaw Community High School. She played basketball and volleyball and played softball on three teams, one of them the Warsaw All Stars traveling league. At an April meeting, Plummer called her a dedicated athlete who was deeply loved by the community.
Her name is staying at the site. In July, a board member asked whether the Frazier dedication would happen separately from the skate park dedication. Plummer said the two would be held together. News Now Warsaw reported that the grand opening will include unveiling a sign honoring Frazier. Signs listing sponsors and park rules are planned too.
How the timeline moved
The finish date has slipped a few weeks with each update, and that's typical for a concrete job that started in midsummer:
- April 21: Plummer said American Ramp Company recommends 8 to 12 weeks of work and expected to start in June or July, finishing around September or October.
- July 21–22: Crews had arrived, and the target was the end of September, with the goal of letting skaters try the park before the end of the year.
- Sept. 15: The Parks Board heard that completion had moved to mid-October.
- Oct. 20: The concrete, rails, lighting and camera cabling were finished, with topsoil and signs going in that week.
The rest of the parks calendar shows the season winding down. At the same Oct. 20 meeting, the board heard that campgrounds, paddleboards and kayaks were closed for the season. All but three city park restrooms had been winterized, and the last ones will be winterized after Spooktacular on Friday, Oct. 30. That means the restrooms beside the new bowl will close for winter whether or not the park opens this fall. Crews are also getting the city's Christmas decorations ready, and the recreation department is showing "Elf" at the Performing Arts Center at 7 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 13.
The city hasn't announced a closing date or a new use for Mantis. In 2020, then-Parks Director Sheila Wieringa said the Boggs site would be redeveloped for some kind of outdoor recreation once the skate park moved. Until the city announces otherwise, the old park and the new one are both standing, about as far apart on the map as the city's two ideas of where skating belongs.
The Parks Board meets again in November, when it's also scheduled to approve next year's rental fees. That meeting is the next likely place for an opening date or a dedication day to come up. With the concrete done, the date and the Frazier sign are the last pieces left.
Projects like this skate park help make a neighborhood easier to live in, and we keep track of them for our clients. If you're curious how a new amenity on East Market Street fits into your own plans in Warsaw, reach out to the Deb Paton Showley Group. We're glad to share what we know about the parts of town where these changes are happening.
