The pink tie-dyed wheels of Vanessa Aviles’ roller skates perched at the edge of a 10-foot vertical ramp, above the most fear-inducing bowl of the new Casselberry Wheel Park. She waited a few minutes, then launched herself down into the concrete valley below.

She emerged beaming — over her run and the new skate park.

The 28-year-old Orlando resident used to drive as far as St. Augustine to skate at a large, free park like the one that opened in June in south Seminole County. When she heard the skate community buzzing about Wheel Park on social media, she went to try it out. And kept coming back.“I was blown away and really happy that this is here now. It’s a whole different flow,” she said. “It reminds me why I love the skating community.”

Wheel Park opened June 19 after a decade-long push from local skaters and a $12 million investment from the city of Casselberry. At 40,000 square feet, it’s nearly four times larger than the average U.S. skatepark, according to the Tony Hawk Foundation — and one of the biggest in Florida.

Roller skaters and skateboarders have excitedly tuned into every step of the construction process. They filled the Facebook post announcing the park’s opening with more than 600 comments, including lots of “lucky kids,” “so rad” and “sick.”

The park, divided by Winter Park Drive, has two key sections. The kid-friendly Wheel Park East, geared toward young riders, boasts a bicycle pump track — a looped asphalt circuit of gentle hills — in addition to a learn-to-ride “Tiny Town,” flower garden, playground and pavilions. Wheel Park West, designed for more experienced skaters, contains multiple concrete bowls and a street skating course with stairs, handrails and ledges.

If it weren’t for the skating community — and a curious elementary schooler — the park might not exist at all.

More than 10 years ago, Wyatt Littrell, then a Casselberry third-grader, asked his father what he later called the “golden question.” Why didn’t his city have a skate park? At the time, Wyatt’s father had to drive him about 45 minutes to Orlando Skate Park if he wanted to cruise the ramps.

Wyatt’s father, Larry Littrell, brought his son’s question to his local representatives — filling City Commission meetings with skate advocates of all ages, canvassing the city with signs, making petitions and even running unsuccessfully for a commission seat in 2018 to get a park for his son.

The family moved to New Smyrna Beach in 2019, but Larry Littrell’s efforts eventually took root. In 2020, Casselberry voters approved a bond referendum dedicating $24 million to build Wheel Park and renovate five existing parks.

Larry Littrell died from cancer in March. But his son, now a 19-year-old sophomore at Daytona State College, said he and his dad went on an “emotional” visit to see the site under construction.

“If I would’ve had that as a kid, it would’ve knocked my socks off,” said Littrell, who hasn’t visited the completed park yet but hopes to soon. “Every photo I’ve seen is littered with people, from front to back, super packed every time. It makes me proud, for sure.”

In its debut weeks, as many as 150 people have filled Wheel Park in the evenings, said Martin Butcher, a project manager for Casselberry’s public works department. It has 159 parking spots, but city staff are already considering ways to add more because of its popularity, he said.

City manager Randy Newlon said he was flattered the park is attracting visitors from “way, way” beyond Casselberry.

Keith Gibb, who oversees Plus Skateshop on East Colonial Drive in Orlando, has friends from Melbourne who now drive 90 minutes to skate in Casselberry every night.

Wheel Park is so welcome because Orlando, though far larger, has no public skate park, Gibb said.

There is the popular Orlando Skate Park, he noted, but it is privately owned and charges membership fees. Some skaters worked with the city to incorporate a park into early plans for a public space under Interstate 4. But the plan got delayed and then scrapped, with the city instead opting to build The Canopy, a gathering space including parking spaces and walking paths set to open in 2027.

Some of the best skaters in the world are from Florida, Gibb said, but many move away. Now that Wheel Park is open, people might stick around “rather than do the typical — start to get good at skating and then move to California,” he said.

“I’ve seen a lot of people that haven’t skated in a long time coming in and saying, ‘I gotta get a board again — they just built this park, I’ve gotta go check it out. It made me want to skate again,’” he said.

Asher Yates, 7, donned a red Spider Man helmet as he cruised the hills of the pump track under the watchful eye of his mother, Stacey Yates, on the family’s first trip to the park this week.

He gave the park his enthusiastic approval. “It’s like you’re on a little roller coaster down,” he explained.

Chad Degroot, a professional BMX rider who owns the Longwood shop Mr. Bikes n Boards, said the park’s appeal goes beyond wheels. Visitors can also walk dogs, read a book or let children enjoy the playground, which includes a wheelchair-friendly swing.

Before the park opened, DeGroot wrote a note to get his son out of school for “personal reasons,” and the two got a special early bike session on the pump track. He thinks it’s among the best on East Coast.

“When I was there, I met the landscaper, and I took a picture with him, and I thanked him,” he said. “It’s way bigger and more well thought-out than I think anyone would ever imagine.”

Devon Marchinko, 38, has been skating on and off since junior high school. Earlier this week, he expertly maneuvered his board across the sloping white concrete beneath him as he skated during what he called “old man hours” — the early morning, when most teens haven’t gotten out of bed and the park isn’t too crowded.

Wheel Park will make skating accessible to young skaters who may not have the money to pay entry at a private park, Marchinko said. “I’d rather the city pay one time, build something, and then kids get to skate it for free the rest of their lives,” he said.

Free admission and no fences were two of the biggest requests of residents at community meetings held to design the park, said Tim Payne, a Winter Springs resident who is the founder and president of Team Pain Skate Parks, which built Wheel Park.

Payne ranked the Casselberry park among his top 10 projects of all time — and he’s built structures for skate board legend Tony Hawk and multiple films in the Jackass franchise.

Open public spaces serve the community and allow skaters of all ages and skill levels to participate, he said.

“It builds a lot of respect,” he said. “The riders watch the better riders and step back and let them try to take over. They all share in the experience.”