Vancouver Skateboard Coalition

It’s hard to believe it’s been 10 years today since the ribbon cutting took place at the Hastings Skatepark on May 25th, 2001. Were you there? You can see in this photo that I shot of Sluggo on that opening day, there was barely any graffiti on the walls at all, she was still a new born babe. And, she’s standing the test of time, looking better than ever and that’s mainly because of that guy up there, Sluggo. He took it upon himself to paint the whole bowl a few weeks ago to make it killer smooth. Thanks a million for that Sluggo. There’s a very long list of others that need to be thanked for making Hastings a reality all those years ago, but you know who you are.

Every time I think of Hastings, I think of Josh Evin, just one of the many, many rippers that have unlocked Hastings’ potential – just look at that air – RIP Josh. Photo taken from Louis Feller’s Flickr page.

Do you have any pictures or videos from the Hastings Park? Put them up in our Facebook group gallery (or post the videos to our wall). I have a bunch of photos from the opening day on a disc somewhere… I’ll try to dig them out and put them up in the gallery sometime soon.

Now get out there and carve a few lines in the bowl, and show it the respect it deserves.

As part of BC Youth Week (May 1-7, 2011) – the Vancouver Skateboard Coalition, in conjunction with the City of Vancouver and Douglas Park, Thunderbird and Roundhouse Community Centres is putting on a youth-focused, family-friendly skateboard event Sunday, May 8th at the downtown Skate Plaza. Come down and enjoy a pressure-free day of fun down at the plaza – just remember to grab your pads, and especially your helmet.

There’s going to be a demo by the Kitsch Skateboards team as well as a BBQ and bands. Child’s Play is back for the second year, and Greentree will also be hitting the stage. Be sure to check out their MySpace pages at www.myspace.com/thechildsplay and www.myspace.com/greentree.

As this event gets larger every year, so has the list of sponsors – and that means more prizes for everybody!

Tons of prizes from Kitsch, Monke, Color Magazine, Real skateboards, Skull Skates, Antisocial, Vans, Boulevard skate shop, Toy Machine, Fallen Footwear, HUF, Zero Skateboards, Circa, Momentum Wheel Co., the Dry Spot indoor skatepark, Analog, Quicksilver, Native shoes, Red Dragon Apparel, Independent Trucks, Girl Skateboards, éS Footwear, and Sandbox Helmets.

Wow! Thanks a ton to all of our sponsors supporting this youth event – nobody will walk away empty-handed that day.

The event is Sunday, May 8th from 1pm-4pm at the Downtown Skateboard Plaza (at Union and Quebec Streets), and is on RAIN OR SHINE.

This is a youth-focused event, so all are invited to this non-competitive, family friendly skateboard event. We’ll probably have some Vancouver Park Board Commissioners and maybe a City Councillor or two come by to show their support for the youth of Vancouver at the plaza – and we hope to see you there too.

For more info about youth week, check out there site at bcyouthweek.com.

While we’ve got your attention: The Plaza will be temporarily shutting down for repairs after the Youth Week event, and will be closed for a few weeks while the park undergoes some much needed maintenance. We’ve been told the park will definitely be reopened before Go Skateboarding Day, which is June 21st. We’ll keep you updated as we have any exact dates.

Leo Romero nosegrinds the rail at the Wild in the Streets Emerica demo a couple years ago.
Photo by Miss Kim

We’ve received word from the City of Vancouver and Vancouver Park Board that the downtown Vancouver Skate Plaza will be temporarily shutting down for some much needed repairs. We don’t have the official closure dates yet, and aren’t totally sure how long it’s going to be closed for, but we’ll let you know as soon as we get that info in. What we do know is that they’re waiting until after our BC Youth Week event, which is happening Sunday, May 8th (Mother’s Day – so save the date if you have/know younger skaters) which is a relief to us so we don’t have to move the event to another park. We’ve been holding the Youth Week event at the Plaza for years, so we’d like to keep it there.

The Park Board started engaging the skaters a few months ago to gather input on what we’d like to see fixed, and made a list of priorities that came out of the online surveys and meetings. First up is that the ground needs resurfacing in the prime landing areas, as the surface there has been deteriorating more over the last couple of years. The second thing up was that the granite ledges are to be swapped out/flipped over/replaced as needed. That’s a pretty good start to the repairs that are needed.

Newline Skateparks, who originally designed and built the park has been awarded the contract for the repairs, so we know it’s in good hands. Sweet.

Kensington Nights from Ethan Miller Productions on Vimeo.

The Skateboard Coalition been pretty quiet over the last few months – busy as always keeping things moving on new parks, etc. We put a bunch of time earlier in the year getting our 4 submissions in to the 2012-2014 Vancouver Park Board Capital Plan, to ensure that there will be money in the coffers for future parks, upgrades to parks, and general maintenance of the parks we have.

It sounds like the Skate Plaza repairs, which have been talked about for a couple years will be moving forward sometime in the near future (maybe May of this year), so we’ll let you know as soon as we know. What are they fixing up? They’re going to be fixing the landings where the surface has given way, and flipping the granite over to the ledges like new again. It’s supposed to be a fairly quick fix, but I’m sure the park will be closed for a few days to make sure everything sets right.

I came across this video on George Faulkner’s site of a few people riding the Kensington Park pool (lit up at night). Kensington Park was the latest completed major project by the Vancouver Skateboard Coalition, so I thought I’d share this video with you – I’m sure there will be many more videos of that park over the years. We’re pretty proud of this one – Kyle and his Newline Skateparks crew really knocked this one out of the park. And, if you don’t know the background on the brightly coloured tiles on the pool, they’re part of a tribute to the late Don ‘Mad Carver’ Hartley, a lover of all things skateboarding and reggae. We think it’s a fitting memorial (along with the broken record sculpture at Kensington). You can thank Mark Anderson for his backbreaking hours hand painting those tiles.

The VSBC is going to be having our Annual General Meeting in the coming months too, so if you’re interested in helping out at the Coalition, we’re looking for some new blood to help us with our efforts. As soon as we pick the date, we’ll let you know, in the meantime, enjoy the video above.

Here’s the description of at accompanies the video:
“This is a short video filmed by George Faulkner and myself (Ethan Miller) during one of the night sessions at Kensington Park. These events are made possible by the generous efforts and lights provided by local legend, Wee Wong.

The VSBC is happy to report that a brand new indoor skatepark, The Dry Spot is opening it’s doors November 7th at 12pm thanks to Ben Chibber and the Monke crew. Congrats!

UPDATE: The Dry Spot’s website is now up at www.skatethedryspot.com – there’s a few more pics on the site too. Age break-downs/hours can also be found on their site.

SKATEPARK FEATURES:

1,375 square ft
3 ft high x 12 ft mini ramp
2 ft platform with a 5 set, interchangeable hubba and step up gap
8 ft granite ledge
Mannie pad
Flat bar
MJ Ledge
5 ft Quarter pipe
5 ft flat bank

For more info please contact Ben Chibber bchibber@shaw.ca
or call 604 324 4962.
Located at 312-8494 Ontario St., Vancouver

Whatcha’ doing this Friday night? Nothing? Really? Again? How ’bout you come down to Leeside and check out this new Thrasher video? Cool thing about this video is, it shows you what you can do when you get off your ass and make your own park. Just like Leeside. So, quit bitching, start building. Under the Bridge, a DIY Skateboard video just might be the inspiration you’re looking for to get us through the upcoming wet season.

Video features skating from some of the best known DIY projects like Burnside, Washington Street, Bordertown, Channel Street and FDR. Maybe the next video will have Leeside added to the list?

Presented by Antisocial. Video on at 8:30, so add this to your Friday night list of things to do!

If you need directions…  But you all should know by now – under Hwy 1 @ Hastings in Vancouver.

Every Vancouver skateboarder is a winner thanks to DC’s generous donation of 10,000 dollars to the Vancouver Park Board for repairs to the Plaza!

Thank you Mark and Char, Wee, Shuggy, Nurmi, Monty, Kevin H, PD, Michelle P, G+G Faulkners, Don’s family and all of the people who were responsible for making Don’s memorial so memorable. All of the history and awesome stories. The Vancouver skateboard community is so amazing! I am sure Don was smiling down on everyone!