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# Community Celebrates Art and Skating
- URL: https://www.jeffcobeacon.com/community-celebrates-art-and-skating/
- Published: 2026-10-13T21:04:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-13T21:04:00.000Z
- Description: Watson’s sweeping murals color the concrete walls.
- Author: Diane Urbani de la Paz
- Tags: Arts & Culture, Seamus Sims Skatepark, Mural, Ribbon cutting, Jesse Joshua Watson, Mayor Amy Howard, Diane Urbani de la Paz

PORT TOWNSEND, WA — Skaters, artists, city officials, teachers, teenagers—all gathered for a parking-lot party this past Thursday, with a sweeping set of new paintings as their backdrop. The ribbon-cutting for the Seamus Sims Skate Park murals was one festive event, befitting a public art project many months in the making. 

On Thursday afternoon, it all began with pizza—pie after pie laid out by Mark Ennis of Flutter By—along with popcorn, sodas and skaters displaying their skills in the park at 250 Monroe Street. As the wind blew leaves across the bowl, girls, boys, men and women flew across the concrete and into the air. 

Jesse Joshua Watson, the artist chosen to create the skate park murals, began painting about six weeks ago. Initially, he’d envisioned a dystopian design, but upon hearing feedback from the skateboarding community, Watson did a do-over. Skaters wanted peaceful Pacific Northwest vistas, so that is what the artist made happen. 

![Murals depicting Pacific Northwest mountains, waters and wildlife line the interior and exterior walls of the Seamus Sims Skate Park, with changing fall trees in the background. ](https://storage.ghost.io/c/c6/a2/c6a241c6-69f5-450c-9fd7-6b170730e448/content/images/2026/10/skate-park-mural-wide-shot.jpeg)

**Murals depicting Pacific Northwest mountains, waters and wildlife line the interior and exterior walls of the Seamus Sims Skate Park. Photo by Diane Urbani de la Paz*

A big orange octopus, shimmering aquamarine sea, golden rays of sunlight, a deer among trees, a great blue heron, a deep green kelp forest: These are the land- and seascapes at the skate park. A fishing boat, like the vessel the park’s namesake Sims worked on, is also part of the scene. 

A series of public officials praised the new murals, funded by a Washington State Arts Commission grant and by the city of Port Townsend. The skate park art project budget of $49,550 included a $30,000 commission for Watson, noted Katy Goodman, Port Townsend’s Arts and Culture Coordinator. Watson was chosen from 17 applicants to paint some 1,700 feet of wall space in the park’s interior and exterior.

Mayor Amy Howard thanked “everyone who makes art or cares about art in Port Townsend,” and hailed Watson for changing his initial design—and making it better, she said—without getting “a bruised ego about it.” 

![Flutter By Pizza Pie maker Mark Ennis making lots and lots of pizzas. ](https://storage.ghost.io/c/c6/a2/c6a241c6-69f5-450c-9fd7-6b170730e448/content/images/2026/10/Mark-Ennis-at-skate-park-mural-event.jpeg)

**Flutter By Pizza Pie maker Mark Ennis fed the crowd at Thursday’s skate park mural celebration. Photo by Diane Urbani de la Paz*

The skate park itself, constructed in 2006, “was built from a huge upswelling from this community,” added Goodman. She added that in 2025, solar-powered lights were installed at the park following a years-long effort by Samantha Stromberg of Port Townsend. Stromberg was a high school student in 2021 when she began gathering signatures and donations for nighttime illumination. 

The park was named after Sims, whom Goodman called a “super dedicated skater who tragically died young,” after his passing in 2023\. 

When Watson was finally invited to the microphone, he immediately spoke about the skaters who wowed him while he was painting. 

“You could see \[their\] kind of passion manifest itself,” he said. Watson watched skaters rip the bowl early in the day and then return after school to rip it again. 

“I watched how welcoming and supporting the community is,” added Watson. 

“All different ages would help and give tips.” 

Watson and Howard then went to the red ribbon stretched in front of an exterior section of the mural. Together, they wielded the giant scissors to officially christen the whole art installation. 

Faith Pray, Watson’s sister, who is an author and children’s book illustrator, was in the crowd Thursday. 

“More art in public spaces, please!” she wrote on Instagram afterward. 

“All ages and wheels were there. These are some of the good parts of life—wheels up, taking tumbles, rolling, learning, art, joy.”