Skateboard

Element PEACE

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i am super excited for this video! From the visual aesthetics to the rumors i’ve heard, this should be an epic one. We will be premiering Element’s Peace video, before you can buy it, here at the shop Saturday Oct 13th! Every hour, on the hour, we will play the video from 11am - 6pm. Everyone who comes in to the shop to watch it at any time that day can put their name in to be drawn for an Element PEACE deck. We’ve got poster and promo stuff to give away as well. #ElementPEACE

Portland Skate-A-Thon

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There are people who do, and people who just talk. This Saturday the do-ers in the skate community collected donations from friends, family, and neighbors to sponsor them riding the temporarily lit Portland Skatepark from 6 pm to midnight, all to raise money for the skatepark expansion. An impressive $5,000 was raised from the event put on by Portland Parks & Recreation!

It really was magical seeing the park all lit up at night. i've gone out and skated the park on full moons, battling shadows, and relying on muscle memory of lines. Having it fully illuminated and shadow-less, glowing in the surrounding blackened fields seemed like a visual manifestation of what the park has always been to me: an oasis, calling out to all those who know the joys of a wooden toy with urethane wheels.

The Million Dollar Lounge and Dial S For Space Cadets provided live music for as long as the city felt the neighbors would allow. Portland Pie Co and HOT DOG CART were there providing food. NHS provided prizes from their brands Santa Cruz, MOB, Bronson, and Creature that went to most money raised, most donors, longest skated, oldest and youngest skating. A solid crew made it all the way to midnight and were audibly bummed when the city finally turned out the lights.

What a fantastic night that will long be talked about - where you there when the park was lit? Huge thanks to all the skaters that collected donations, the bands, the brands, the food suppliers, and Portland Parks & Rec. Seeing young kids all the way up to the middle-aged all coming together and skating together for their community - the skate community, was an uplifting thing. Let's keep up the momentum and get the park doubled in size!

Robstock 2018

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Our shop traveling corespondent and team rider Adam files his article from this year's ROBSTOCK. The shop news helicopter has been out of commission for some time now so he had to drive. Here is his formal report:

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About 250 miles up the coast from the Maine's southern boarder, Whitneyville is home to the wildest skateboard gathering in New England. Behind an abandoned, run-down house, in a town of nothing, Robstock was running wild. Rob Collinson (Lowcard) has one hell of a ramp hiding deep in the wilderness. Complete with skinny bridges leading to a wallride over a doorway, and a rickety launch ramp over a kiddie pool. The ramp was steep and aggressive. Two vert extensions back-to-back for the brave of heart to huck on. A 2 foot wide quarter pipe coming off of the side of the ramp, dubbed the 'carcass catcher' would shake and wobble as you tried to do anything on it.

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All surrounding the ramp, tent cities were set up for the weekend. Fireworks of all kinds were being set off. Roman candles, smoke bombs, fire crackers, flares, were being thrown over the ramp, on the ramp, at the skaters, in the crowds, and pretty much everywhere. Bowling for condiments; where a full sized bowling ball was being rolled across the ramp (while we skated) at pickle jars, beer cans, ketchup, and pretty much anything that you could have a bowling ball knock over.

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Rob gave out free swag from Converse, Indy, Creature, and of course, Lowcard. After the sun went down, the lights turned on and people skated until early in the morning. Saturday night heavy rain set in, but it didn't dampen the party one bit. There was live music and moshing, which turned into a mud pit. The ramp turned into a water slide. There was enough energy at this place to run a power plant. If you haven't made the trip up yet, then do it. You won't regret it. Thanks Rob, for having such a rad thing going on. -Adam L.

Not Worried about Skateboarding

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As athletic shoe companies, fashion magazines, and the olympics are all trying to grab their piece of skateboarding i'm not worried about skateboarding at all. Your favorite brand, your local shop, your favorite skater... i'd be worried for them, but not for skateboarding. Skateboarding will be just fine. For every jock Koston there's a toothless Andy Roy balancing it all out. Skateboarding is an untamable wild animal that will never be successfully caged, but it is also a cannibal that will never reach a point of unity. 

Skateboarding lives in dog years. In 1 Earth calendar year, skateboarding has already lived 7 years. By the time the magazine cover with the skater wearing white sneakers has been delivered, black suede is already the look. As soon as games of SKATE rules establish no tricks where you put a foot on the ground, everyone's insta part has no-complies. Remember 3 years ago when that local hero did that thing down that rail? No. Because 2 new generations of skaters have started skating, that spot's a total bust now, 3 new parks have been built in the state, and 5 DIY spots have been demolished. Anything lasting 10 years in skateboarding is comparable to 70 years in any other setting - it has far exceeded it's life expectancy. That popular company that the local skate shop couldn't keep in stock 4 years ago is now out of business.

What makes skateboarding so great is also what makes it cannibalistic and self destructive: that unyielding sense of independence. The attitude that draws us all in to this creative art-form where all we need is ourselves and a board also leads to situations like now with everyone thinking they want their own deck company. So the market is inundated with countless board brands all fighting for the same sized community. Smaller pieces of pie means smaller profits for most, pros making less off signature decks, less company profits to put back into skateboarding like contributing to local parks and events and videos. Skateboarding blows itself up, and before the smoke has cleared there's already a new plant growing up through the cracks in the pavement. 

So i'm not worried about skateboarding. It can take care of itself. The olympics occur once every 28 skateboard years. The athletic companies' deep pockets only have a finite amount of money - but skateboarding's creativity is endless.