Alix Rice Peace Park Opens

Seven years after Alix Rice's passing, a tribute, Alix Rice Peace Park, officially opened Saturday afternoon. 

“Now we have a place, as you can see, kids of all ages can come in, adults, whoever have a place to have fun and skate," Paul Nielsen said, a volunteer for the last five years of the project. 

The park is home to skateboarders, BMX riders and inline skaters and is intended to be a safe place where skating culture can flourish. Alix Rice was killed when she got hit by a drunk driver while long boarding home from work in 2011. 

“It’s bittersweet, I’m very excited to see all of these kids enjoying themselves, as much as I know Alix would have but at the same time. Wish she was here to enjoy it," Richard Rice, Alix's father, said. “I do hope at the end of the day, everyone remember it’s a responsibility to coexist with our neighbors and that means everything we do, including when we’re driving a motor vehicle you gotta be responsible, you gotta act like an adult.”

The community raised nearly $200,000 to put this project into action, designed by Grindline Skateparks of Seattle, Washington. 

“They need a place where they can play, just like hockey players and football players and now they have it," Tammy Schueler said, Alix's mother. “She would be running around hugging everybody, that’s what she would be doing.”

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