SEQUIM — Sequim Mayor Brandon Janisse has proposed renaming Sequim Skate Park to honor the late advocate Mark Simpson.
Janisse wants to rename the park the MarkeMark Simpson Skate Park for his advocacy for skating, the park and creating a sense of community and a safe place for children.
Simpson’s wife Shelly said “MarkeMark” was a nickname he received in the Seattle skating and board sport communities in the 1990s after he started working for Mervin Manufacturing.
Simpson was diagnosed with stage 4 esophageal and stomach cancer in May 2023 that forced him to take medical leave from Costco, where he worked for 10 years.
He died at age 52 in April 2024.
Sequim City Council members voted 6-0 on Jan. 13, with council member Dan Butler excused, to open a comment period to gauge the community’s interest on the proposal before formally considering the name change.
Comments must be received no later than Feb. 24. Written public comment can be sent to the City Clerk at clerk@sequimwa.gov, sent by regular mail or hand-delivered to the Sequim City Clerk, 152 W. Cedar St., Sequim, WA 98382.
According to city policy, council members can opt to put the renaming proposal on a meeting agenda to discuss. No timeline was given for discussing the name change.
Letter
Janisse wrote a letter to council members stating Simpson was a “tireless advocate for the often-underrepresented skateboarding community in Sequim (and) in 2016 he launched fundraising efforts (the 501(c)(3) nonprofit Sequim Youth Skate Park Foundation) and sought support from local businesses and organizations to renovate the skate park in Carrie Blake Park, ensuring it would serve future generations of skaters.”
Janisse said Simpson prioritized the park’s upkeep and organized volunteer efforts to clean it.
“Renaming the skate park in Carrie Blake Park to honor Mark Simpson recognizes his pivotal role in shaping and revitalizing this vital community space,” Janisse said.
“Mark’s efforts to renovate and maintain the skate park have directly enhanced the quality of life for Sequim’s youth, providing them with a safe and inclusive environment to gather, express themselves, and develop their skills.”
He added that it also provides the city a chance to “celebrate a local hero while strengthening the identity of the skate park as a central, meaningful part of our town.”
Legacy
Shelly Simpson said in an interview that getting a call from Janisse about the proposed name change “was an honor.”
The Simpsons met while attending church in Seattle and were married for 30 years. They share three children.
Shelly read a letter to city council members from Mark’s friend Gary Barss, who wrote that he couldn’t “think of a person more deserving to name the park after than Mark.”
“(Mark) cared immensely about the kids that are in the skate community and he worked tirelessly to coach them and teach them how to skate but also advocated for wearing helmets and being safe as well,” Barss wrote.
“Mark loved people and he often told me how much he wanted to improve the skate park so that it would be a safe place for young people in Sequim to be outdoors and have community with each other,” he added.
He said his friend would be looking down, smiling on the skate park and his legacy.
Simpson started skateboarding when he was 12 in Springfield, Ore., he said in a 2015 interview, and “just decided not to stop as an adult.”
The Sequim Gazette published a story about his effort to do an ollie — a skateboarding move where the rider and board leap without hands — each day for more than two years.
He tried to restart the challenge again in 2023 and got to day 141 on May 21, but then pain and weakness caused him to pause.
During his initial streak, he ollied in the rain, snow, wind, in other states and countries and while sick.
“There are some days where you are so sick it throws off your equilibrium, but I still get it done,” he said in 2015.
To finish his second year of an ollie a day, he went to the Sequim Skate Park in near-freezing temperatures on Dec. 31. Reflecting on his two-year experience, Simpson said he started the streak more for himself but met people he inspired, and he discovered an online community of skaters in their 40s and 50s still skating across the nation.
In 2016, he helped start the Sequim Youth Skate Park Foundation, saying the following year that the park’s conditions at the time were geared more for bikes.
“Bikers love this, but it’s really rough for skaters,” he said. “In the winter, we can see the water seep through, and there are cracks everywhere.”
The foundation received a design for the proposed skate park from Grindline Concrete Skatepark Design and Construction of Seattle in 2016, which proposes expanding the existing park to the west.
Simpson said the project would have cost between $700,000 and $1 million at the time.
“It’s drastically needed because it’s used all the time,” he said.
Shelly said the foundation continues on with hopes of someone taking on the effort. It’s raised about $25,000 through various fundraisers, she said.
Janisse said Simpson’s efforts showed his dedication.
“He was working with what he had to help out any way he could,” he said. “Hopefully his vision of a new skate park is in the future plans.”
For more information about the Sequim Youth Skate Park Foundation, visit sequimyouthskateparkfoundation.com or instagram.com/sysk8parkf.
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Matthew Nash is a reporter with the Olympic Peninsula News Group, which is composed of Sound Publishing newspapers Peninsula Daily News, Sequim Gazette and Forks Forum. He can be reached by email at matthew.nash@sequimgazette.com.
Mark Simpson skates during a Sequim Youth Skate Park Foundation fundraiser in 2022. A proposal is open to public comment to rename the Sequim Skate Park after him for his advocacy for board sports and the park. (Mark Simpson)
