MOLINE, ILLINOIS (June 22, 2023) — This month marks the two-year anniversary of Keep Pushing Skate Shop in Moline Centre, a product of owner Jonathon Marler’s lifelong passion for skateboarding.
“Since the time I got my first board, I have always wanted to do something with skateboarding,” said Marler. “When I was eleven, my mom gave me this litle pink plastic board that she won from work, and I just loved it. So, that Christmas I got my first board and I’ve never stopped skateboarding.”
Although his love of skateboarding remained as he grew older, Marler stayed with it as a hobby rather than a profession — until about two years ago.
“I was disappointed going to the mall — because that’s all we had at the time for boards — and the kid helping me didn’t know what he was talking about,” Marler said. “So that night, I called my wife and told her I was quitting my job. I quit my job the next day and started working on this shop. That was February 2021.”
Like a true skateboarder — go big or go home!
And so it began, and Marler says he has seen an increase in popularity for skateboarding in the community during the past two years. “It has definitely goten bigger since I’ve opened,” said Marler. “It’s now an Olympic sport, and I’ve sold over 1,700 boards in two years, so that tells you something.”
Located at 1421 5th Avenue in Moline, Marler calls Keep Pushing Skate Shop a “one-stop shop for skateboarding”, with boards, trucks, wheels, and bearings, along with shoes, clothing, and protective gear. Marler also services skateboards.
During the past two years, Renew Moline Inc in cooperation with the City of Moline has led efforts to bring a new skate park and pump track to Moline. New Line Skate Parks is the consulting firm exploring options for the project, with plans to locate a park under the I-74 Bridge at River Drive. New Line has designed over 400 skate parks during the last twenty years.
On a personal level, Marler knows the value of a skate park. “My parents were military, so we moved a lot,” he said. “The first thing I would always do when we moved was find out who skates, where the park is, and how close it is. If I could find a park, I could find friends because we all had common interests.”
Marler has been actively involved in the City’s community engagement efforts around skate-park planning, including a pair of recent design sessions hosted by the Moline Parks and Recreation Department. The design sessions featured renderings of potential skate-park and pump-track features, along with break-out design discussions with groups of participants. The sessions also featured presentations by Kanten Russell, a former professional skateboarder and New Line’s Director of Design.
“Kanten knows what works and what doesn’t,” said Marler. “He designed a skate park in Fort Worth, Texas, and every obstacle in that park we need. That park is in a video game, so people can actually play it and see how the park flows.”
Marler was also instrumental in securing support of the early concept in 2021, participating in public sessions and ensuring that people interested in a skate park responded to surveys. To date, there have been almost 700 responses to surveys related to the skate park and pump track.
“Jonathon has been a great community partner to the City of Moline, and he’s been on the commitee to help bring a skate park and pump track to Moline,” said Eric Griffith, Moline Parks and Recreation Director. “Congratulations to Jonathon for the two-year anniversary of Keep Pushing Skate Shop, and I look forward to growing this partnership and using his knowledge to help better Moline.” Marler also has ideas for the process of designing and building a skate park and pump track in Moline.
He says large skate parks are harder for beginners, so he recommends a smaller, plaza-style park with small and street-based obstacles “that everyone from beginner to advanced can skate on.”
Marler also supports the multi-phase approach to building a skate park, saying costs can prohibit building an entire park at once. His recommendation is to build Phase I of the park using public input that identifies the most popular features, and then expand the park in phases with other features. Marler calls the public design sessions “key to designing Phase I.”
“In San Diego, the Washington Street Park was built by the skateboarders — they took it into their own hands and built something and it just stayed,” Marler said.
The Washington Street Park was built under a freeway, a concept under consideration for the Moline skate park.
A skate park and pump track is designed for use by skateboarders and cyclists who use the same obstacles and share the same space. Characteristics of the park include a series of rollers and embankments designed to create momentum that carries users through the pump track without pedaling. Marler describes it as an “all-wheel park” and says the pump-track part of the skate park is good for beginner skateboarders because riding it on a bike “teaches them how to ride bowls and ramps on a smaller, safer scale.”
When asked how old is too old to skate (asked “for a friend)”, Marler said “You can be as old as you want.” Then, pointing to a board on the wall, he said “That is the Mister Kinoshita board. He dropped in for the first time at 73-years old, so one of my board artists decided to give him his own guest model. It’s never too old to start, and I don’t think it’s ever too early to start either!”
Keep Pushing Skate Shop
1421 5th Avenue, Moline, Illinois
(309) 517-6421
www.Facebook.com/keep.pushing.skateshop
keeppushingskateshop@gmail.com
OPEN: 12-6PM Monday through Saturday
CLOSED: Sundays
About the Moline Centre Program
The Moline Centre Program is administered by Renew Moline Inc in coordination with the City of Moline to support the downtown business community, develop the business base, and enhance the visitor experience in historic and vibrant downtown Moline Centre.
About Renew Moline
Renew Moline Inc is the non-profit economic development entity planning for the future, facilitating development, connecting resources and people, and advocating for public policies and programs for the benefit of downtown Moline, Illinois
