The Orchard Conservatory is a 2 story indoor skatepark in Boston, and we need your help keeping it FREE and open to the public through the winter! The Conservatory is located inside at POP Allston , Boston's first pop-up creative community Co-Op that launched in September 2015. Here's the amazing story behind POP Allston and the Conservatory:In the spring of 2015 a 3 story warehouse and adjacent land were purchased by Eden Properties with the intent to demo the building and construct a new residential/commerical building in its place. Eden reached out to Allston Village Main Streets - a local non-profit to see if the vacant building could be used for some kind of community benefit in the meantime.We at Orchard Skateshop were one of the first partners on board and jumped on the opportunity to create one of the world's first free indoor skateparks on the 2nd and 3rd floors of the POP space. The 1st floor and basement at POP is home to a variety of different community initiatives including the CommonWheels Bicycle CO-OP , Oliver Best Vintage Market , YogaHub , as well as studio space for the !nd!v!duals Collective .The skatepark itself is 8,000 sq ft spread across the 2nd and 3rd floors of the building. The park was designed with varying unique and inspiring terrain on each floor that is fun for all skill levels. We were fortunate to have many of the building materials donated by John Moriarty & Associates - one of Boston's largest construction companies, and by using these desireable and sustainable materials we were able to build a park with a unique skating experience.The second floor was constructed in a Plaza style using modular "granite legos" that can be rearranged in different layouts and also relocated to another public skate space after POP Allston's life cycle comes to an end. The third floor of Conservatory is a flow style setup featuring concrete and wooden transitional elements artfully built by Colonial Ramp Tech with support from a dedicated crew of New England builders. The space opened to the public in mid September, and in the first month we have had close to 800 different skateboarders ride the park! The weather has been mostly sunny, and the need for indoor refuge from harsh Boston winters is only going to grow. By winter's end we are estimating that up to 10,000 different skateboarders could potentially skate the Conservatory. In addition to open session times, the Conservatory offers skate lessons, clinics, and camps to help grow and guide the next generation of New England skateboarders. The first Saturday of every month offers free lessons from 10-1 , with private lessons available at other times.The space costs thousands of dollars per month just to keep the lights on and remain operational, and the livelihood of the space is dependant upon donations from supporters like you! With winter rapidly approaching we need to raise money ASAP, and this LFEBridge campaign will be ongoing until we can raise enough funds to keep the park open and free for the remainder of it's lifespan.Please donate what you can, every bit helps no matter how small the amount and you'll get some rad rewards for your contributions!Thanks for your support!-The Orchard & POP Allston famAll photos by Rob Collins
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