Less than a week away from one of the most anticipated days of the year if you’re a skateboarder. Go Skateboard Day is celebrated around the world now and every skater knows about it. Different shops and skate companies all over the place will be hosting events at local skate parks for kids and adults of all ages to come out and enjoy. Living where we do, there’s always lots going on but the main one is always the Vans Waffle breakfast at the Skate Plaza downtown, followed by some street barging and then a trip to Strathcona Park. All the kids usually tag along on this portion of the day and it’s worth coming out just to see the young bucks goin’ wild. But if you’re stuck at work all day, or that whole scene just doesn’t appeal to you, then you might be hittin’ up the Hastings Bowl for a little BBQ action and shredding. This is where the hardcores hang and the kids don’t always fit in. After that there’s an afterparty at The Princeton Pub 1901 Powell Street where bands The Tubuloids, Futur Tits and SELFIST will be blowing ear drums. I’m sure it will be a drunken display of democratic rebellion. Sound like fun.

But if you don’t wanna go there, there’s the afterparty and Sk8 Mafia video premiere at the Fortune Sound Club as well.

It all begins at 9:30am – June 21^st, 2013

Go Sk8!

There’s a lot of stuff in the media about skateboarding right now, and a lot of it is negative. There’s positive features like the memorial session for Jamie Kehoe and stories about upcoming positive events happening over the summer, but these topics are only making the smaller local papers.  Unfortunately the ridiculous controversy at Mt. Pleasant park and stories about longboarders getting hurt and losing lives are what the people are going to see and read because it stands out more, and gets publicized way more. The way the news works is the most popular stories are usually the ones that people suffer to have written about them. Skaters have always had issues with the eye of the public and it’s really difficult when we are all looked down upon over stuff that only a small group of us are involved in. But with all this in mind, recognize that when you carry a skateboard in your hand you are categorized as a skateboarder, and everything you do represents all of us. So even if you are not a “longboarder”, understand that what is happening in the news right now with them affects you as well. There have been 11 serious incidents in the past 2 weeks involving Longboarders in the streets and it is the golden topic in the media right now. Things happen in spurts, and unfortunately these accidents are all making headlines making it look really bad. One of my Police Officer friends said, “When you get something big that happens and creates a lot of attention, the public expects action. But sometimes it is the only time that it ever happens and then all that action is for nothing…” Enforcing more rules against the longboard nation and skateboarders as a whole is not the solution. Of course there should be consequences for anyone mistreating the laws of the roads no matter what type of vehicle they are utilizing – car, motorcycle, bike, skateboard, walking/running – you gotta be safe, and make sure you’re not creating a dangerous situation for anyone else. When there’s an incident between a car driver and a skateboarder or a bicyclist it is usually the driver of the car that suffers the most mentally. As the one riding down the street on your board or bike, you are always aware of the chance of being hit by a car, but the person in the car is definitely not expecting that to happen on there drive that day, so we gotta respect that. The solution is not more laws, bans, restrictions and tickets, the solution is more education. In today’s world, skateboarding in all forms is taking over as the most popular pastime. And because of that, we are getting a lot of kids that are buying longboards and cruiser boards just to ride from place to place. They’re not really “Skateboarders” but they are considered that by the public eye. And if they’re just buying one of these boards that gets them going super fast and they don’t know what they are doing then that is going to get them hurt, and that adds to negative statistics against skateboarding as a whole.

How do we get the information out there? 

Who is responsible for providing and sharing this information?

And what is our target audience?

I think everyone needs to recognize this issue right now and help to fix it. It’s just like when you’re in the skate park and there’s a new kid that obviously doesn’t know what they’re doing and keeps cutting people off, standing in the wrong spots and constantly getting in the way. You make the choice to ignore them and live with it, or go over and educate them about park etiquette. Which one will go further? People need guidance in these situations, and this is where we’re at with longboarding in the streets. If you see someone riding dangerously, try and stop them and let them know that what they are doing is representing all of us and they need to be more respectful and cautious. And when you see these people on their penny boards and cruisers that are obviously not real skateboarders, ask them if they know what they are doing and if they need any advice. Let them know there is information online to guide them to what they need to know. They are setting our reputation. And if you are a really good skater or longboarder who is ripping through the streets, let’s try and follow the rules of the road for the next while and not be another statistic that affects our entire community. Remember that there is actually a bi-law against skateboarding on a city street, let’s not get that turned into a full law.

This issue will pass eventually but until then we are walking on broken glass. Skateboarding is actually way down on the list of sports related injuries but most people consider it way more dangerous than all the organized sports. Basketball is actually the most dangerous sport according to who visits the hospital the most, but the news is not displaying that, they are only talking about us right now.

Be ready in the valley, Geoff Dermer and crew are heading out for a Demo Tour starting right now. Kitsch Skateboards has paired up with Studio Skateboards and they are making stops at 5 different skate parks in 5 days. Starting off at the Abbotsford Skate Park on June 13^th, onward to Kamloops Park on the 14^th, over to Salmon Arm for the 15^th, across to Ben Lee in Kelowna for the 16^th and then finishing it off in Vernon at Coldstream Skate Park on the 17^th. This is a hefty list to conquer if you’re over the age of 16, there’s gonna be a lot of cramped up bodies by the 3^rd day I’m sure. But nothing a bunch of veteran rippers can’t handle. They do it for the love.

Jai Ball, Chris Melvin, Bryan Wherry, Seth Cardinal, Stacy Gabriel, Geoff Dermer and more. Keep watch for them and be ready.

All demos start at 6:30pm

On Saturday June 8^th, Donny Chang, Coastal Riders and the real ND Skate Crew celebrated the late Jamie Kehoe’s birthday by throwing a big shindig at the skate park where they all hung out together. Friends, family and everyone else showed up and had a great time together and lived the day for someone who can’t anymore. Jamie’s life was stolen from him in 2010 at the young age of 18 when he and his friend tried to stop a fight on the bus and he was stabbed in the neck. A brutal scene and completely uncalled for situation, and once again, an innocent man robbed of life for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Remember Lee Matasi, Rachel Hunter and Chris Whitmee, same thing – shot dead in random acts by people they would have never associated with normally, but they happened to be in the wrong place that day. The days have come when it’s too dangerous to be a hero, and sadly when there is an act of violence happening it is almost better to run away and let that person suffer while you call the police to come and deal with it. We all grow up knowing right from wrong and when we see someone doing something wrong it is difficult to step up and try to stop them, it takes great courage and honour to not just sit there and let it happen. But in today’s society – is it worth it?

We’ve lost too many people in our skateboard family to these random acts, and I can name 5-10 more locally that have been in the same situations and barely survived. It’s scary.

I didn’t get to be at Jamie Kehoe’s 2^nd annual celebration as we were away this weekend, but I know tons of people showed up and paid there respect in so many ways. And I’m sure he was looking down watching the whole thing from above.

Read this message below that Hermann Puschel wrote for Jamie to recap the way the event went down and feel the love, feel the pain, and recognize how many people an act like this affects.

RIP Jamie Kehoe…

“Hey Jamie Kehoe. Boy what a weekend this was LOL I know you are proud of us, we skated we partied but most important of all we remembered you. Donny Chang worked so hard to make your skate jam the great success that it was it shows how great a person he is and the love he has for you. The boys Tony Casano, Aaron Fermill, Majed Salem, Kurtis Day, Stefan Alvarez, Eric Pereira and all the rest of them were all at the park remembering you in their own special way, some skated some drank but it was all for you buddy and always with much love and heartache for you not being here. Tylor Joseph Faucher and Chris Faucher came by and it was great seeing them man, let me tell you those 2 have such a deep love for you and miss you more than I can describe. Your dad man you are so lucky to call him father and for him to call you son, he works so hard to never let anyone forget the amazing person you were and I respect him so much and the rest of your family as well, they were all there just for you telling stories and sharing memories of you. JK ALL DAY could be seen all over the park parents skaters girls homies everyone was there to show their love and it was strong. The girls Jacquie Stipec and Richelle Day came just for you man you still have a way with the ladies, and those 2 miss you SO MUCH they really loved you and you’ll always be their Jamie baby and you can’t forget about Marlee McAllister your always in her heart and on her mind. It was a great day but it wasn’t the same without you. I miss you man I tried my best to shred for you as hard as I could. You gave us so much in the short time we had together and when you were taken from us our hearts broke but you left us with one last gift. It was through your example of being a hero and the love we have for you that brought our crew back together and I just want to thank you Jamie, you brought the family back together and we will forever be grateful to you for that. Together we suffered cause of your lose, together we remember you everyday in our hearts and in our minds, and together when we meet again we will drink heavenly champagne and remember the good times as well as create new ones. I just thought you should know this weekend was yours and personally from the bottom of my heart thank you so much for bringing us back together everyone of them and you mean the world to me and I have a love for you guys that I just can’t put in words or possibly describe and I can’t wait till we are reunited with you. You will forever be our Hero and we will forever be indebted to you from the bottom of my heart and everyone elses thank you, we love you, and we miss you deeply” – Hermann.

Oh how the times have changed….

When I was growing up we didn’t have skate parks where I lived, except for the occasional Indoor and maybe an outdoor wood park scattered around here and there. But all of those cost money to skate so really if you lived in Canada and weren’t around the Vancouver area, you were screwed.

Now a days almost every province has multiple skate parks in multiple cities, and some cities are even overloaded with skate parks, and they’re all free, outdoor, public facilities. But unfortunately, there are still plenty of cities and municipalities that have not jumped on to this boat yet, and it’s a shame for the skaters of their areas.

Where I live now we are spoiled in the sense that we don’t even have to fundraise anymore, most cities around here just tell us they are building another skate park. It took a long time to make it to this point, but if you’re not living here then you need to push on them to make it happen for you.

This is a great article from quite a few years ago in Transworld Magazine written by Miki Vuckovich from the Tony Hawk Foundation. Miki is a great person who cares a lot about skateboarding and helping it grow, and does a lot of promotional work behind the scenes to make thing happen. Read this article and learn step by step what you need to do to get started on the process of getting a skate park in your city, and then get to work…

http://skateboarding.transworld.net/1000008892/features/how-to-get-your-city-to-build-a-skatepark/