This week officially declared “Vancouver Skateboard week” (June 15-22, 2009) by Mayor Gregor Robertson

For immediate release
June 15, 2009

With this upcoming Sunday being Go Skateboarding Day and Emerica’s Wild in the Streets, we’ve had the City of Vancouver officially declare this week, June 15-22 as “Skateboarding Week”.

Tonight at 7pm, at the beginning of the regular Park Board meeting, Commissioner Sarah Blyth will read out the official proclamation declaring it Skateboard Week on behalf of Mayor Gregor Robertson and the City of Vancouver. If you happen to be rolling by the Park Board office, come on by for Sarah’s reading.

Here’s a quote from Commissioner Blyth:

“Skateboarding has come so far. Only ten years ago it was illegal to skateboard in the streets, skateboards were being confiscated and ticketing boarders. Skateboarders were buying boards with no place to use them.

We are now are working from a skateboard strategy to give skaters alternatives. In the past ten years we have seen 6 new parks and a relaxation of the ban on skateboarding in the streets. Vancouver is now a meccaa for skateboarding and people come from all over the world to use our skateboard parks. This year we will see another skateboard park at Kensington Community Center. I would also like to see an indoor youth facility to accomodate, skateboarding, BMX and rollerskating for the rainy months.”

Earlier in the year the Park Board voted unanimously to approve the motion for the skatepark at Kensington Community Centre, to add to the achievements of the VSBC, which have past successes such as the Hastings Skatepark, the Downtown Plaza skatepark as well as relaxing the skateboard laws in the city of Vancouver.

“10 years ago kids were getting tickets, getting their boards confiscated, and there was nowhere to skate except for China Creek. It’s great to see the Park Board looking at what kids are doing today, and trying to support that, to keep the kids active and engaged” says Chris Young, a director with the VSBC since 2000.

A couple of lines from the official proclamation:

WHEREAS this year, 15 professional skateboarders will be joining over 5,000 young and old skateboarders around the city to celebrate their passion during the annual Go Skateboard Day, which will feature events throughout the city.
NOW THEREFORE, I, Mayor Gregor Robertson, on behalf of the City of Vancouver, do hereby proclaim June 15 – 22, 2009 as “Skateboarding Week” to recognize the importance of this sport in our city.

It’s times like this when we’d like to acknowledge the hard work of those on the Vancouver Skateboard Coalition, as well as the tireless work from those at City Hall, the Vancouver Park Board – both at the Commissioner’s level, and also at the staff level, including Piet Rutgers, and especially Mark Vulliamy for dedicating the past decade to our cause. Past Park Board Commissioners we’d also like to take time out to thank include Alan DeGenova and Lindsay Popes. If it weren’t for all of these people, I can assure you Vancouver would not be the skate mecca that it’s known as today. So, much thanks go out to you all.

Skateboarding week ends with “Wild In The Streets” on Sunday, June 21st. You can learn more about that here, which takes place on Go Skateboarding Day, and you can learn more about that on the Go Skateboarding Day website.

You can learn more about the Vancouver Skateboard Coalition at our website: www.vsbc.ca

Travis Cutler, VSBC Director
email  travis [at] anchorsigns.ca

Chris Young, VSBC Director
email: chris [at] kinkdesign.com

Last year's Wild in the Streets in Vancouver... From the Emerica site.

What are you doing this Sunday? Join approximately 5000+ skateboarders as they hit the streets in Vancouver this year for Emerica’s Wild in the Streets.

The goal of Wild in the Streets is to build community & raise awareness of skateboarding and the needs of skateboarders. It is our hope that Wild in the Streets will someday take on the character of a large-scale, decentralized grassroots movement for the benefit of skateboarders everywhere. We believe in the ability of skateboarders to empower themselves to do great things. Be a part of something amazing, or better yet, create your own amazing event.

T-Shirts of this epic event are being sold at Antisocial (2337 Main Street) and at the Underworld Emerica team signing on Saturday, with all benefits going towards Leeside. Learn more about that here.

Here’s a loose schedule of events for this weekend:
Saturday, June 20th, 2pm - Emerica team signing at Underworld (860 Granville Street)
Saturday, June 20th, 4′ish (?) - Emerica Leeside Session (after the team signing, there’s a session at Leeside – timing is sketchy here, so go with the flow on this one)
Saturday, June 20th, 10pm – No Age and The Goat at The Biltmore Cabaret (not an official WITS show)
Sunday, June 21st, 1pm -
Wild in the Streets Vancouver (Meet at The Plaza at 1pm) Will probably run until at least 7 at various spots and parks around the city.

Check the video from last year’s WITS:

To learn more about Wild in the Streets, please see either their Facebook page, or Emerica’s Wild in the Streets website, and for up to the second updates, follow the WITS mayhem on Twitter.

We’ll just go ahead and throw this out there… Please be respectful and careful out there on Sunday.

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