Ryan Joubert, a sixteen year old Fitchburg High student, died in a car accident on November 7, 2000. Three other boys in the car survived the accident, and they came together with Ryan’s family and friends, and their own families and friends during this time of grief to establish our new goal of building the Ryan C. Joubert Memorial Foundation in April of 2001.
The community was enthusiastic, rallying with us to support the foundation and our new goal: building a public skatepark in the City of Fitchburg. All of us who knew Ryan knew he loved to skate! He would even travel to Boston, New Hampshire and Vermont to check out skate parks. He was always skating or snowboarding, and when we found Ryan’s drawing of a skatepark we were inspired to build one in Fitchburg.
Thanks to the generosity of many individuals and collaboration with Fitchburg city officials, we broke ground on June 2, 2002 (Ryan’s 18th birthday) at Parkhill Park.
The skatepark officially opened on September 21, 2002. The turn out was amazing! To this day, the park is busy and full of kids and teens who love to skate. The park is open from April to November from sunrise to sunset for the community to enjoy.