LEWISTON – A new downtown skate park is set to open next week with professional riders.

The park will remain closed until then, however.

“The park itself is finished, but there is still work that needs to be finished,” said Pat Butler of the Skate Lewiston-Auburn Movement.

City crews need to install fences around the concrete-lined park and finish work on the grounds before the grand opening, Butler said.

SLAM organizers, local skaters and pros are scheduled to cut the ribbon at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 4.

“Then, the pros will do a little demo,” Butler said. “It’s just a little showboating to open the park up. Then it belongs to the kids.”

Work on the park began in May, but planning began in 2004. At first, they planned to put it directly across from Lewiston City Hall, but officials decided in November 2005 that it made more sense to move it to Kennedy Park’s southwestern corner. City crews tore up the old asphalt basketball court, installed drains and put up a viewing stand.

Skate park construction specialists from Rhode Island’s Breaking Ground began building the skate deck in August, carving deep bowls and obstacles out of the dirt and lining them with steel-reinforced concrete.

The park consists of two deep bowls and a street course, with ramps, benches, curbs and other obstacles.

Much of the work was paid for by donations from parents and local businesses. SLAM raised more than $200,000.