Skate park in Papillion closes

Bad news for local skateboarders. Vinny's Indoor Skate Park in Papillion had its last day of skating Saturday.

“I just can't afford it anymore,” park owner Vinny Serratore said in a recent interiew. “We only have actually three months out of the year that the park is supported enough to pay the bills, and the rest comes out of my pocket.”

Serratore and his wife, Karen, have owned and operated the park since spring of 2007.

Serratore recently sold the building, which had been on the market for about a year. The building sits across a small parking lot from Vinny's primary business, Team Electric.

Life may go on for the park in another way. Serratore said the ramps might be sold to another indoor park. At one time, Vinny's housed Nebraska's only indoor bowl for skateboarding and BMX. That bowl now sits in Saylor Skate Park in Des Moines.

Serratore tried to send the park out in style, with professional BMXer Rick Thorne once again paying the park a visit, this time on March 2 as part of his “Grindz and Rhymez” tour.

Thorne's band “Good Guys in Black” performed during the event, which also included a demo and contest.

Serratore said he and Karen have supported other parks and youth activities in the past, and they started the park because they wanted to try running their own facility.

“I'll miss all the kids,” Serratore said. “That's what we did it for.”

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