Connor Allen finds himself in the dark standing beside the Squamish Skate Park.
It's 7 p.m. on a brisk, dry night in February. A full moon casts shadows on the park's bowls and drops, but it's not enough to allow the 14-year-old a chance to play on his BMX bike.
"People love being here," Allen says, while standing over his bike. "In the winter we just don't have enough time."
The concrete maze adjacent to the Squamish Youth Resource Centre is Allen's favourite place to hang out. He's there until the light goes down, he says with enthusiasm. But during Squamish's colder months, after the school bell rings, it doesn't amount to a lot of time.
"Now I pretty much just have to ride around town or go to a friend's house," Allen says.
Skateboard shop owner Mike Quesnel is on a mission to change that. A skateboarder all of his life, Quesnel says Squamish's skate park is a destination spot. Skaters and BMXers from Whistler and the Lower Mainland visit the park for its features. On any given day, the divide between locals and out-of-towners is about 50/50, he says. But with no lights at the facility, Squamish is losing out on money that could be made from visitors buying food and other supplies.
"It gets busy," Quesnel says. "On average there's usually a couple of dozen kids there."
Pooling resources, Quesnel — who has fundraised for parks before — says he's gathered $10,000 in pledges for material and donated time. He would like to see a system in Squamish similar to that at Whistler's skate park. It consists of four poles each equipped with four lights per pole. In 2005, when they were purchased, each pole-fixture set cost $5,100.
The night lighting is enabled by a photocell and shut off by a time clock, a Resort Municipality of Whistler spokesperson wrote in an email to The Chief.
"The lighting is manually turned on by push button (which is vandal proof), stays on for a predetermined length of time, then sequences lights off, so the site does not go black all at once," the staff member wrote, noting the lights remain on for two-hour periods.
Before any such thing can happen here, Quesnel needs the go-ahead from the District of Squamish.
The district has no immediate plans to place lighting at the skate park, Mayor Rob Kirkham wrote in an email. Officials are also aware of the need for night lighting at the slow pitch baseball fields at Brennan Park and possibly for upgraded lighting at the proposed turf soccer field. The district is in the midst of creating its Parks and Recreation Master Plan in which all sports groups' requests will be prioritized, he wrote.
"Part of the process of creating the master plan is to reach out to groups… to ensure their focus and concerns are being considered," Kirkham stated.
