Joshua Gotter hopes to create a lasting recreation space for local youth and families

By Rich Wicks | Panora Times, May 2026

For Joshua Gotter of Panora, skateboarding has been a lifelong pursuit.

“My dad put me on my first skateboard probably about the time I was figuring out how to stand up,” Gotter said. “He was a skateboarder as a young man. In southern California, he grew up around the boom of skateboarding. I don’t have any memories where I don’t have skateboards in my life.”

As a lifelong skateboarder, Gotter has accumulated an extensive collection of boards.

“I have a pretty extensive collection. I have a little man cave in my basement, and I’ve probably got about 75 skateboards on display. There’s probably 20 of them that are autographed. Some are just boards that I thought looked cool.”

Gotter recalled moving from California to Panora.

“I moved here from California when I was 11. I was in sixth grade, and it was nothing short of culture shock for me,” he said. “I spent a lot of years being that one kid alone in the bank parking lot skateboarding until late at night.”

Gotter recalled finding places to skateboard while striving to perfect tricks, but he was eventually asked to leave parking areas and loading docks. He knew he was sometimes skateboarding on private property after hours, but in a small town, he had few other options.

Over time, Gotter improved his skills and eventually entered competitions, though he said the spotlight was never his goal.

“I was never really big into competitions, but that’s not all that it’s about. Sometimes, you just do something because it feels right, and there was always something that felt right about having wheels underneath me,” Gotter said. “My best memories of skateboarding were always the road trips with my parents.”

Now in his 40s, Gotter said skateboarding remains therapeutic, despite the physical challenges that come with age.

“I’m reaching an age where I can’t do all the things I like to do anymore. I don’t heal very fast. Injuries are prevalent,” Gotter said. “But skateboarding has been a thing that kept me grounded and saved me at a lot of weird points in my life. So, to the community that’s given me so much, I want to give them a piece of myself, and hopefully we can build something that’s going to last.”

With that in mind, Gotter has envisioned creating a skate park in Panora. He said the most logical location would be on the southern edge of Michael Mills Park, between the T-ball diamond and Wagon Road. However, he acknowledged the project’s significant cost and said it will take time.

Gotter said his research into other skate parks showed that a concrete structure would cost about three times more than a wooden structure but would last much longer.

Gotter previously presented the idea to the Panora City Council and addressed concerns from council members and city staff regarding loitering and vagrancy. He said lighting and clearly posted park hours would discourage youths from gathering after dark.

Gotter has an unofficial fundraising goal of $350,000 to build the type of park he believes would best serve Panora. That figure includes a sidewalk or walkway to the park and lighting.

“We’re still just in baby steps. In the fall, I was just gauging to see how much interest there is. We found that there is enough interest around here. Kids who ride scooters, adults who skateboarded when they were younger, people who ride bicycles and would enjoy someplace to ride besides just the bike trail,” he said.

“There’s definitely a lot of unused space out here to do some things with. Maybe a BMX bicycle track. We had a pretty decent amount of interest until winter hit,” Gotter said. “Now we’re at a point where we’re trying to pick some steam back up. I’ve got a few ideas of ways to try to get the community involved. It makes us less of a closed off little community and more of a place to come visit.”

One of Gotter’s goals in building the skate park is to provide youth with a free local recreation option.

“I feel sad when I see young kids in the area and they don’t have anything else to do except for pursue things that are going to get them into trouble,” he said. “Another thing is kids nowadays are very stuck in video games, and they expect immediate results. That’s a very unhealthy mentality because that’s not the real world. You need to learn to be bad at things before you can be good at them, and skateboarding, for me, was always one of those things.”

From his own experiences, Gotter said he understands the satisfaction that comes with learning to skateboard and mastering tricks.

“The success, the feeling, the gratification that you’ve earned is so much more powerful than what kids get from video games,” he said. “I’m worried about the future of our youth, and we need to embrace giving them safe places to learn to be stronger humans. Hopefully, it can be a place where kids and adults alike can go and just find themselves somehow.”

Anyone interested in learning more about efforts to create the skate park can follow updates and design ideas on the Panorama Skatepark Project Facebook page. n