5th Annual Ghost Ryders Skatepark Competition Is a GO!!
After a 2 year COVID hiatus, The Delburne Skatepark will once again play host to BMXers, scooter riders, and skateboarders from central Alberta schools for an amazing, unique, and fun celebration of action sports.
Hosted by Delburne Centralized School, the competition is for any student currently in grades 7-12. This year because of the 2-year break, there is a special category for alumni. This category is for any past participants in the Delburne comp who graduated in 2020 or 2021 and missed their last chance to compete.
The Delburne skatepark and this competition are both the result of an incredible relationship between the youth of Delburne, their school, and their community. Skateparktour.ca told this story in a 2017 post and video.
Students from ANY school or school district are welcome to come to Delburne and participate in the competition. Because it is a school-based event on a school day, schools will require certain paperwork to be completed. For more information on competing (or sponsoring!) contact @delburne_ghost_ryders on Instagram or email: sbanks at cesd73.ca
I made it to Edmonton this past weekend for the opening day of the newly expanded House of Wheels 2.0. This video tells the story of what I saw and was able to video.
HOW 2.0 is located across the parking lot from the old skatepark at 8834 48 Ave. NW. The entrance is toward the north end of the building, and there is a ramp to make it easier to get your bike, wheelchair, or mini-shredder’s stroller up to the park level.
There is now a large gathering area with tables and chairs where parents can hang out, or take a break between sessions on the ramps.
Features
New to HOW 2.0 is a Little Shredders area, with some small features for the real little ones go gain skill and confidence on before riding the main park.
Also new is the pump track and flow jump area. The two areas run parallel to each other with the pump track on the inside, and the flow jumps on the outside. Both have high banked corners to help riders keep their speed up.
The box jump line is not open yet because the staff couldn’t get them ready for opening day. When I arrived Saturday morning, about an hour before opening, workers were cutting wood and screwing them into place on the pump track feature. Some had worked through the night to get the park ready to open.
I will return to House of Wheels in a few weeks to take photos for a new virtual tour, once everything is in place and working properly. Until then, you can get an idea of what to expect from the slideshow and this video (which is also on the HOW page).
Edmonton is so lucky to have House of Wheels! The last two skateparks in the area didn’t survive 2 years and here is HOW expanding and growing! It may not have every feature you want, but House of Wheels offers lots of variety, and they have plans to add even more features over time. If you’re in Edmonton, pick up a pass or punch card and enjoy a session from time to time to ensure the park continues to thrive!
This Christmas when you are gift shopping for family and friends, please remember to shop your local core skate, bike, and scooter shops and your local indoor skatepark (if you are lucky enough to have one in your town)! When we shop local, the profit generated from our purchase goes to local business owners and their families, not to huge multinational corporations or online retailers headquartered far away and often in a foreign country.
Local shops and parks are the ones who organize comps, demos, and video premieres. They are the ones that will be there to support efforts to get a new skatepark in your community. The big mall stores rarely (if ever) invest time, effort, or money to build the local scene, they just move their profits to head office.
Skateparktour.ca really appreciates the support of several excellent core shops over the past year, and two outstanding Canadian skatepark design and construction companies. We want to recognize and thank these businesses for their help in keeping Skateparktour.ca alive and growing!
Ride N Play is a 22000 Sq ft indoor skatepark that opened this winter in Edmonton. The owners have invested heavily in building a first class facility for everyone who enjoys wheeled actions sports to enjoy. In this, skateparktour.ca’s first video blog, we take you on a tour of Ride N’ Play, and fill you in on some more detailed information about the Ride N’ Play experience!
Once last summer when an upcoming event posted by a Calgary BMX shop was shared on the Skateparktour.ca FaceBook page, it prompted this response from one skater:
“Get your shit together skatepark tour. Stop promoting BMX at skateparks. If that’s what you want to promote, at least do skateboarders a courtesy and change your name to parktour.ca”
This is not the first time that a skateboarder has made an issue of BMX being included on Skateparktour.ca. The relationship between skaters and BMX’ers is sometimes “strained” so the comments are not really a surprise. The attempt to get the comment poster to take a wider view about BMX’ers in skateparks failed. Apparently I am “losing it” according to the poster.
It’s true that skateparks originated because of skateboarding. Back in the day when the first skateparks were being built, BMX and mountain bikes had not been developed yet. Today though, some skaters still hang on to the belief that skateparks are for skateboards and that’s all. They see BMX’ers as invaders in “their” skatepark. They are called “skateparks” after all, aren’t they? While it’s not unusual to hear bike riders or skaters complaining about each other, sometimes with justification, in most places the groups have learned to co-exist peacefully and even be friends.
The whole issue did raise a good question though, about how many bikes, and people riding other things that are not skateboards, use skateparks? Are skateboarders still in the majority? How big is BMX in skateparks? And what about scooters? They too seem to be a growing user group in some places. In the summer of 2012 Skateparktour.ca set out to find answers to these questions this study is the result. Check out the infographic below for a summary of the results.
HOW 2.0 is located across the parking lot from the old skatepark at 8834 48 Ave. NW. The entrance is toward the north end of the building, and there is a ramp to make it easier to get your bike, wheelchair, or mini-shredder’s stroller up to the park level.
