SOUTHEASTERN N.C. — The Wilmington skate community gathered Friday night to celebrate the life of Jimmy Ellington, founder of Hampstead’s Skate Barn. Ellington passed away Sunday, Feb. 16, only three days after the Skate Barn announced its closure.
Ellington opened the skate park 28 years ago, which has served the community as a gathering place long before other parks were open in the greater Wilmington area. He passed away after a four-year battle with cancer at the age of 52.
After three hours of skating and commemorating Ellington, Sonny Russell announced the Skate Barn’s doors wouldn’t be closing permanently after all.
Taylor Maready, Hampstead local and owner of Ecological Marine Adventure, North Shore Juice, Roll Over Wilmington and more, has bought the park. The sale was finalized on Tuesday, Feb. 25.
“I grew up in that place,” Maready said in a phone call with Port City Daily. “When I heard it was closing, that’s when I ended up contacting Wes and making sure that we could roll with it and figure out a way for it to live.”
Wes Corder bought the park in early 2024 so Ellington could step away to focus on his health. Pender County property records indicate Corder purchased it from Ellington in January 2024 for $510,000.
“I know he got a lot of flack for this,” Maready said, referring to pushback online, “but Wes came in and pretty much acted like a savior to the Barn when Jimmy was having issues with his health. He has given us a great deal and a means by which he can keep going just because he wants it within the community.”
After posting the initial closure announcement on socials, rumors spread that Corder sold the property to developers.
Maready didn’t give the figure of the sale but estimated Corder could have received more for it had he sold to developers instead.
The goal is to reopen the Skate Barn doors in the next week or two after and Maready is working now on repairs and plans for the park. Skate admission will be $7 per skater, and hours will remain 2 p.m. to 6 p.m., seven days a week for the time being. Maready plans on implementing a new monthly membership program, where members can come skate at any time.
Ellington founded the Skate Barn in 1996 at 24-years-old. The space had been an old paper mill shed, transformed into a skate park known as the “Middle School” in the mid-’90s. According to a Topsail Magazine article from 2022, Ellington’s cousin owned the property before Ellington stepped in to add an outside course and create the “Skate Barn” brand.
Located at 155 Pansy Lane off of U.S. Route 17, the Skate Barn has welcomed skaters from across the East Coast for decades. It is best known for its indoor/outdoor skating environment featuring various ramps, bowls and half-pipes.
“[Ellington’s] reach went beyond New Hanover and Pender county,” Russell, former Skate Barn employee and close friend to Ellington, said. “His skate park was a destination for traveling skateboarders.”
It was one of the few in the region in the 1990s, besides Ramp House in Carolina Beach. The Skate Barn quickly grew, welcoming skaters of all levels to use the 6,000-square-foot facility.
A former competitive bodyboarder and avid surfer and skater, Ellington balanced his time between the Skate Barn and his family’s commercial installation business.
“Skate Barn, from day one, was a labor of love,” Russell said, noting Ellington would finish up a 10-hour work day and head straight over to the Barn. “Trade out the work boots for skate shoes, come over there, say hello to everyone, take a run or two, skate around, shake some hands, and talk to people with genuine concern, and then leave.”
With the news of Ellington’s death and Skate Barn’s closing within the span of a week, Corder opened the Skate Barn doors Friday evening for an event hosted by Good News Skate Night, a local skate ministry founded in 2023.
The inspiration behind Good News Skate Night started at the Barn in the late 2000s. Ellington would host free skate nights so the community could come together to skate and listen to a short message from Mike Steinkamp, former professional skater and cinematographer, who also likes to share the Christian gospel.
“Seventeen years ago, when he was not a believer in Christ, [Ellington] opened up the doors to the Skate Barn to me for free and said, ‘Yeah, you can invite anybody that you want. They can skate for free, and you can share the gospel with them,’” Steinkamp told Port City Daily. “He would always be like, ‘Yeah, I don’t believe the same thing that you believe, but I’m gonna let you do this up here because I feel like there’s good in it.’”
Ellington became a believer eight years ago, Steinkamp said.
“He was, like, ‘Mike, I don’t think you’re doing enough, man. I see you up here at the park, and you’re not talking to as many people as you should,’” Steinkamp recalls. “I just remember that being super encouraging coming from him because he’s always been such a mentor in my life.”
Ellington was two years into his battle with cancer when Good News Skate Night was founded, but Steinkamp and Russell formed a group with fellow skaters Michael Forbes, Seth Prevatte, Gabe Sirenko and more to meet monthly to skate and worship.
Steinkamp emphasized that Ellington’s legacy went far past his impact on the Good News group.
“It could have been anyone throwing that event on Friday and there would have been 400 people there,” Steinkamp said. “We were lucky enough to be the stewards.”
Russell said the goal of Friday evening’s gathering was to “share the message of Jesus Christ in an honest and inviting way and to celebrate Jimmy Ellington’s legacy.”
“He impacted everyone that met him because he gave value to everyone that he ever met,” Russell said.
More than 200 skate waivers were signed for people to skate Friday night, with countless more spectators in attendance. A raffle was also hosted, raising over $3,500 to give to the Ellington family. He is survived by his wife, Kelly Heath Ellington; his three children, Hannah, Adelai and Heath; his mother, Debbie Farrow Ellington; and grandmother, Rheba Farrow.
Standing next to the Ellington family, Russell gave a short message about the importance of community, noting Friday night’s crowd may have been the most the Skate Barn had ever hosted.
“Look to your left, and look to your right,” Russell instructed the crowd. “Look at all this. This is skateboarding in southeastern Carolina. … God created us for community. We’re not meant to go through life alone.”
The skate park wasn’t only home to skating but also hosted other events, such as music festivals, contests, summer camps and parties. Maready has plans to implement an after-school program in addition to summer camps and classes.
Maready emphasized that in reopening, the Skate Barn will also continue to rely on the community’s support.
“This is not my Skate Barn, this is our Skate Barn,” Maready said. “If we want it to stick around for many, many years, we’re going to have to come together and make that happen.”
Maready didn’t invest in the facility to make a lot of money from it, he iterated. Rather, he hopes it sustains itself, and wants his own kids skaters throughout the community to continue to have a place of belonging.
“It can be that sacredness and that beauty that it was when I was a kid,” Maready said.
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