The Pandemic slowed a lot of things down, but it sure didn’t stop the Papillon Skateparks Company from building a bunch of new flawless parks across the province! With a handful of new skateboarding playgrounds on all corners of Quebec, we’re stoked to have people like Papillon and his squad to keep us shredding some of the best and most fun parks around.
CHECK OUT THESE NEW PAPILLON SKATEPARK PROJECTS, HOP IN THE CAR AND GO HIT THE CONCRETE! To stay up to date with the new Papillon Skateparks projects, follow them on Insta at @papillonskateparks or visit the company's website at www.papillonskateparks.com.
If you didn’t already know, the Papillon Skateparks squad is made of true skateboarders who understand how to design, how to build and above all, how to use skateboarding obstacles. The company’s founder, Hugo Papillon has been a friend of ours for a long time and was already a well-established and sponsored skateboarder long before starting his own company.
Hugo started skating around the Joliette area a long time ago and learned how to shred in some of the worst skateparks in Quebec. Reason why Papillon skateparks has been on a steady mission to educate and inform towns and cities across the province about our skatepark situation and the fact that you need to hire people who know what they are doing in order to have a functional park. After almost 10 years in the game, the young skater owned company doesn’t seem to be about to stop.
SAINT-CHARLES BOROMÉE
It’s crazy to think that the old Saint-Charles Boromée Skatepark is where Papillon Skatepark’s founder learned how to skate, but on way sketchier obstacles. Today, the kids from the new generation not only have a good place to practice and have fun, but they also have access to a playground that will truly help them to progress on a skateboard.
Like all Papillon skateparks, the flow at the Saint-Charles park is flawless and very easy to figure out. The ground is smooth and the lines don’t cross each other. The park is built in a triangle shape, with a different type of obstacles on every side. A line with flat obstacles like manual pads, ledges and a flat rail. A line with a hip/pyramid that includes a flat rail and flat ledge on top and a line with a table top that includes stairs, 2 down rails and one down ledge.
As there’s a street section on every side of the triangle, there’s also a transition section on all of its corners. A wide bank with a small quarter pipe in the middle on one corner, a tall hip made of 2 quarter pipes in another corner and a long and smooth corner pocket transition with a speed bump to keep you going at the other end.
CHAMBLY
The Chambly park used to be one of the good ones around, but was still made of prefabricated wood and metal sheet obstacles that started to rot years ago already. The park is now completely redone and is 100 times better than the previous one. The Chambly park was well known for its mini ramp with a spine and the Papillon guys, along with designer Spin Works, respected the park’s heritage by keeping the ramp on site, but with a nice update.
The new Chambly park has everything you’ll need to have fun and is super smooth to ride on. The flow is linear and easy to understand. The design is very street oriented and includes all the obstacles needed to improve your technical street skills. On one end of the park, you have a starter section with a bank that leads you straight to a set of stairs with a down rail and ledge. This section also includes a nice top rail that you can pole jam into. in the middle of the place, you’ll find a manual pad, a hip and a flat rail.
At the other end of the park, you’ll find one of the best benches to skate on. This long perfect bench is accompanied by an A-frame bump and rail. The best part is that you can actually skate the top of the long bench from the A-frame bump. Although this park has more of a street vibe, you’ll find the iconic spine ramp along with another small mini ramp to keep your transition skills sharp.
MERCIER
Although one of Papillon’s smallest projects, the Mercier skatepark is so fun and definitely worth visiting on a daytrip out of the city. This park is the perfect example that the Papillon Skatepark guys know what they are doing as they were able to build a fully functional and progression-oriented skate facility on such a small space.
The street section is amazing for how small it is and very well mixed with other types of features like transitions, making this park super easy to navigate without much effort. The ledges, rails and street obstacle’s are medium size, allowing beginners to learn how to jump on them and experimented skaters to learn new tricks they might not try on bigger obstacles. The Mercier street section is perfect for learning and progressing and last but not least, is super fun to shred.
The transition section is simple, but very effective. On one side of the park, a wide quarter pipe followed by a spine and a speed bump, allowing you to use the place like a mini-ramp or just to use it to get speed to get back in the park. On the other side of the pack, a smooth and wide bank with a ledge in the middle. Even if this park is a bit more street oriented, there’s well enough transitions there to help you get better at that aspect of skating too.
