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Wednesday 13 February 2019

‘Father’ of Parke Curason: George Forbes

By Linda Reijnders people come here every day and the con-
For years I have been practicing sports at the nection with them makes me happy.” He ex-
actual only real sport park in Aruba. Parke Cu- plains that for a day the park gets about 150
rason at Jaburibari is a fenced park with cov- visitors. “That is the average, it can be more in
ered basketball field, football field, BMX racing the weekend.” All nations and all ages are rep-
track, skateboard field, workout stations, kid’s resented, indeed a multicultural all-generation
play garden and a paved walking/running/bik- park. The park he believes exists 14 years now,
ing path of 750 meter. It is located in the neigh- so he was here from almost the beginning.
borhood Jaburibari and a popular spot for lo- “The park at that time looked amazing, every-
cals. If you would like to ‘meet the locals’, join thing was new and in good shape. More and
in on some basketball games and sniff some more people are coming now, the Aruban
‘coulure local’, this is the place. But, for me, the people love sports more now and that is good. and also trying to work your way up to the first
cherry on the pie is the dedication of the ‘father’ Comparing to the past it got better, that is why place.” Not only is the park a home to BMX
of the park to his job: meet George Forbes. we need to focus on maintaining the park”, groups, also basketball teams, football groups,
George explains. He likes to do sports him- skateboard fanatics, little children, bikers, run-
Face of the Place self, and he is always walking around to help ners and walkers find their way. And after all it is
There are people that just do their job and there young and old. “I am not somebody that sits in also a social gathering spot. Like Daniel Tromp
are people that make a difference in the way a corner making my money. There are a lot of says: “This park allows me to practice my sports,
they do their job. Forbes makes a difference things we need to take care of to prevent acci- BMX, and therefore I can race abroad. But
when you visit Parke Curason. He greets visitors, dents.” For George, his goal is to continue mak- this is also where I meet my friends. The park is
walks around to take off helping a kid pump his ing the people happy and see the park fixed in high need of maintenance and I hope this
football or pointing out a bump in the runway up. “I hope that the promised maintenance will will be done soon and the government takes
to a jogger. He even is concerned with the cars come to reality very soon. It is very important as her responsibility in this.” This opinion is shared
that enter and directs them to an available this park has a crucial role.” by Sharitza Henriquez who likes to walk in the
parking spot. He is to most people of the park park. “There is a lot of lacked maintenance like
‘the face of the place’ and many times we for- BMX training spot the workout stations.” For George this is noth-
get to thank people like him to stand out like Jaymer Carolina, BMX-er, confirms the impor- ing new, he sees his park every day and is con-
this. tance of the park to his sport: “The park is my cerned about the state of it. “I welcome more
training field. I train here 6 times a week from and more people every time which is positive,
150 daily visitors 5 to 7 pm.” His club is called Rough Riders Aru- but we need to fix things.”
Aruba Today had a little chat with Forbes. “I ba where he rides in the 17-24 age category.
work here since 13 years and I love everything “But next season I am planning to race elite, Parke Curason is open daily from 5 am – 8.45
about my job. I am supervisor and security. The the pros. It’s all about adrenaline, speed, style pmq

Aruba to Me

ORANJESTAD – We would like to For today’s newspaper we re-
portrait you! By inviting you to send ceived a great picture from
us your favorite vacation picture
while enjoying our Happy Island. Margarita Caban
Complete the sentence: Aruba to from Connecticut. She
me is ……. Send your picture with
that text (including your name and wrote:
where you are from) to: news@aru-
batoday.com and we will publish Aruba to me is…
your vacation memory. A trip to the Ostrich Farm

Isn’t that a special way to keep
your best moments alive? Please It’s Margarita’s first trip to Aruba
do note: By submitting photos, text but her husband Thomas Mc-
or any other materials, you give per- Carthy has been coming to
mission to The Aruba Today News- Aruba for 40 years and he ab-
paper, Caribbean Speed Printers solutely loves it here. In all these
and any of its affiliated companies years this was Thomas first trip to
to use said materials, as well as the Ostrich Farm and they both
names, likeness, etc. for promotion- had the time of their lives there.
al purposes without compensation. The tour guide was very kind,
super fun and very informative.
They even got to feed the os-
Last but not least: check out our
website and Facebook page! triches. They were very excited
Thank you for supporting our free and they absolutely love it.q
newspaper, we strive to make you
a happy reader every day again.