There were plenty of young smiling faces as the Omokoroa officially open their new skate path today.

Omokoroa Community Skate Group chairperson Erin Cartwright says having a facility like this was a huge boost for the youngsters and had built a lot of community spirit.

The Omokoroa skate path opened today. Photos: Tracy Hardy.

'It's very exciting and big kids are giving way to the little kids and I've seen [the older kids] going up to the little ones and helping them out, when they've fallen off. So there is a lot of community spirit here today.”

The $230,000 project began four-and-a-half years ago, when the skate park made it to Western Bay of Plenty District Council's proposed district plan and possible locations were put to community consultation.

In 2014, Omokoroa Point School pupils and principal Vicki Knell presented the plan to WBOPDC, crossing their fingers for approval and allocated funding.

WBOPDC granted $50,000 and Omokoroa Community Board matched the funding with another $50,000.

The Omokoroa Community Skate Group was then formed to further develop the project.

Tauranga Energy Consumer Trust donated $50,000 to the project, with BayTrust gifting $10,000 and NZ Community Trust giving $20,000.

Erin says the team J Stone, who built the path had also been fantastic.

'All along the way they have been helping us out and how we can tweak it if things weren't working. That's why we engaged them because they're professional skaters.”

About 50 youngsters were on hand and raced out to have a blast on the new path and the feedback has been positive Erin says.