The skate park at Tanner Park in Copiague has a new concrete face after years of delays and rising costs, and locals who couldn't wait for the ribbon-cutting to try it out. The Town of Babylon spent $1.68 million in capital project funds to have Ridge-based contractor Laser Industries rebuild the park entirely out of poured concrete, replacing aging ramps that had been chewed up by years of use and salty waterfront air.
A Decades-Old Gathering Spot Gets Rebuilt to Last
According to News12 Long Island, the park was designed with input from local skaters including Lindenhurst native and world-record skateboarder Chad Caruso, who along with friends had petitioned the town to build the original skate park back in 2004. That original facility opened later that year and quickly became a community gathering place, one Caruso has said has been a huge part of his life ever since. The new concrete build is engineered to last at least 20 years, according to Newsday, a marked upgrade from the surfaces that couldn't hold up to Copiague's waterfront conditions.
Officially named the Dr. Pasquale and Marcia Ann Curcio Skateboard Park, the 22-year-old facility had already been shut down once before, closed for three years starting in 2010 after severe surface corrosion set in from the salt air off the Great South Bay, the same outlet reports. That history of deterioration is part of why the town ultimately committed to a full concrete rebuild rather than another patch job.
Budget Battles Before the Bulldozers
Getting to this point took longer than expected. Construction was further delayed after the town brought on Los Angeles-based consultant Spohn Ranch in 2023, when rising costs and unexpected site drainage problems delayed the project, per the same outlet's reporting.
The finished product sits within Tanner Park, a 93-acre municipal property along Long Island's Great South Bay that the Town of Babylon named in 1962 after local civic leader and former highway department employee Richard “Dick” Tanner, according to the Town of Babylon.
Skaters Couldn't Wait for the Ribbon-Cutting
Demand for the new bowl proved hard to contain. Weeks before the town's official opening, the town removed the surrounding security fencing as skaters began showing up, Newsday reported. The early arrivals underscored just how much appetite there was for the newly renovated facility.
That enthusiasm traces in large part to Caruso, who holds the Guinness World Record for the fastest skateboard crossing of the United States, a mark he first set in 2023 and then broke again this year. Between May 1 and June 8, 2026, Caruso completed a 39-day cross-country run from Venice Beach, California, to Jacksonville, Florida, according to Long Island Wave. His original 57-day cross-country journey in 2023 raised more than $48,000 for addiction recovery causes, the outlet notes.
A New Chapter for Tanner Park
For a park that started with a group of local kids petitioning their town more than two decades ago, the concrete rebuild and the community turnout to match mark a new chapter for the same gathering spot that shaped Caruso's skating career from the start.
