The long-awaited Village View County Park in Fallbrook opened to fanfare Wednesday.
The county bought the land in 2020 and the groundbreaking was in 2023. It would have opened earlier this spring, had it not been for the unusually rainy winter that delayed construction.
At Wednesday morning's ribbon-cutting, San Diego County Supervisor Jim Desmond said the park was worth the wait.
"It's a beautiful part of the community and the neighborhood, and people can walk here," he said. "Bring your kids, family members — picnic here. It's just fabulous."
The 6.8-acre park includes two dog parks, a play area and plenty of open spaces for kids — big and small — to jump, skate and run around. Jessi Hughes, who lives 10 minutes from the new park, said that's needed to keep kids active.
"They can come here, socialize, skate, exercise and do things besides stay home and play video games,” she said.
But the highlight of the park is the skate park, which took even longer to come to fruition.
"We've been trying to get a skate park — specifically here in Fallbrook — for nearly 20 years," said Sean O’Callaghan with Fallbrook Skatepark Inc. The group had a hand in designing the park, and O'Callaghan said the community needs more skate parks.
"So now that this one is in, and the pot and the concrete's poured, I'm ready to start campaigning for the next one," he said.
The park includes an avocado-shaped bowl, a nod to Fallbrook's history of avocado farming.
"The bowls are like insane," fourth-grader Frederick Chwersensky said.
He had been waiting for the skate park to open for the past year.
"I love having a skate park in my hometown," he said. "We drive around like, every day ride to check it out, and it looks so cool.”
Chwersensky was among the several dozen children testing out the course on Wednesday morning, and he plans to visit often.
“It’s super fun,” he said.
