Go Skate Day 2011

Go Skateboarding Day Atlanta 2011

     Finally! After missing the first seven years of Go Skateboard Day, I was finally able to go. To be honest, I highly doubt that I've actually missed all of them since they began in 2004. I probably skated on June 21st at some point in the last few years, but never have I been where the action is. Of course Atlanta's Go Skate Day turned out to be less than I expected, but it was still fun. Apparantly there was a much larger turnout last year. Nonetheless, it was a good day. I started out the day by eating chocolate chip cookies for breakfast and watching skate videos. Then, in the spirit of skateboarding I headed out around two o'clock. My first spot was the 'black boxes' on the Piedmont overpass. 

"Black Boxes" with the shadow from the canopy above. This is
Piedmont on the right.

     I have to admit, these were much higher than I expected. I was able to boardslide one, but that was it. I considered doing a 50-50, but I don't like grinding things that aren't longer than 3 or 4 feet... it doesn't yeild enough enjoyment for me. When I arrived at the Black Boxes there were only about 10 kids skating. Soon afterwards there were well over 40. However, within an hour there were only 2 people there... me included.







The location for the Black Boxes is pretty nice. It's directly
over the Interstate on an overpass.

      So the other fellow showed me around some of the spots in Atlanta. We proceeded to the Georgia State Banks, GP Ledges, and the Underground Atlanta Stairs. These were all a bit of a disappointment because there were no skateboarders to be found anywhere. So, although I was hoping to avoid it, I ended up at the Old Fourth Ward Skatepark. It was pretty crowded there. Go Skateboarding Day is different for everyone. For me it is about skating in places where people generally don't allow you to. Strength in numbers. Skate the bailed out bank rails and stairs (we own them now right?), schools, churches, and whatever else you generally get kicked off of. I mean this is the main advantage of having 100+ skateboarders together at one time. Take a page from critical mass. Of course, this is how it's done in many cities and towns across the World. The skatepark was fun though. One thing that I found to be ironic is that fewer kids actually get to skate on Go Skate Day. The best skateboarders tend to rise to the top and show off thier skills while everyone else sits back and enjoy the show. It's truly enjoyable though. I have to say that although the street competition was pretty amazing to watch (especially the kid who landed a blunt to fakie on the wall), the highlight of my day was to see the older skateboarders show up and rip in the pool and flow bowl. This was incredible! One guy had to be at least 55 (probably older) and he was absolutely destroying the pool and the flow bowl. That was certainly one of the coolest things I've ever seen. 

The older guy ripping up the pool like it was his day job.

     In the end, I only landed two tricks after over 8 hours of "skating," a boardslide at the black boxes and a boardslide down "the racker." That, however had very little effect on my day. It truly was an enjoyable experience and the amount of energy that surfaced at the skatepark was phenomenal. No doubt about it, Go Skateboard Day will become a standard holiday for me from now on!





This guy was really nice too. He's doing a 50-50 in the deep end here. Insane!



This kid had a really awesome style. Here he is doing a manual across the
island and dropping back in.



This kid placed in the top 3 of the street competition. Looks like he's doing
a feeble here. He was very consistent.



The older guy again just destroying the flow bowl. He's my new hero.



Another one. He was grinding all the way around the curve each time.


Below are some videos from throughout the day

The Black Boxes when people began to show up

and before everyone left.

Old Fourth Ward Park... where everyone migrated to from downtown.

Flow bowl footage.

The worst bail I saw all day, but this is the same kid who

blunt to fakied the wall. The craziest thing was that he

got up after this and kept skating.

A huge lipslide. I believe he won the contest too.

I could be wrong about that though.

Massive backside bluntslide (or over tail?). Absolutetly amazing!