Press Release:
Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif. (June 23, 2011) – Skateboarders across the world gathered to celebrate the Annual International Go Skateboarding Day Tuesday, June 21, which marked the ninth anniversary of this passion filled holiday. China, Afghanistan, Colombia, Brazil, and the U.S.A. are just a few among the many countries that participated in over 600 events honoring the international holiday.
With one goal in mind and one cause at hand, skateboarders gathered to share their passion, unite, celebrate the skating world, and simply have fun.
“For the past 9 years IASC has been the hub of the activity while Go Skateboarding Day has taken on a life of its own. It’s amazing to see all the ways people experience this one day in their life: having fun, skateboarding, getting together with friends, making new friends, people have dedicated facebook pages, web sites, blogs, and tons of creativity to go skateboarding day,” said Don Brown, Chairman of IASC and Vice President of Marketing of Sole Technology. “The universal ability of Go Skateboarding Day is to unite people for a cause or just for fun has been the most gratifying part for IASC. Expect big things for the 10 year anniversary of go skateboarding day!”
Numerous skateboard retailers and apparel companies such as Old Town Skate Shop in Saginaw, Michigan, No-Comply Skate Shop in Austin, Texas, the 3rd Lair Skatepark and Skateshop in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Vans, Sector 9, Globe, Toy Machine and many others joined together and showed their support by hosting events or offering special discounts and giveaways.
Emerica’s skate team joined forces for the event “Wild in the Streets” and took over downtown Los Angeles to celebrate the holiday. Aimed to build community and raise the awareness of skateboarding, “Wild in the Streets” unites skateboarders focused on spreading the good that skateboarding brings. Professional skateboarders, Jerry Hsu, Andrew Reynolds and Braydon Szafranski were all spotted showing their support. All proceeds benefited Board for Bros, a charity organization that collects, refurbishes and donates used skateboards to children in need. https://emerica.com/news/2011/06/21/wild-in-the-streets-la-photo-gallery/
New York City saw thousands of skaters taking to the streets thanks to the crew at Fiveboro Skateboards. They helped organize an outstanding group of events, this time taking over spots in three of the city’s five boroughs: Maloof skatepark in Flushing Queens’ Corona Park, Coleman Oval Skatepark on the lower East Side and at Brooklyn’s McCaren Park. Local Skateshop KCDC and a slew of sponsors including CCS, Volcom and Fiveboro helped throw a massive block party on the street adjoining the skatepark.
The holiday is not only a day of celebration for the sport, but also as a way to raise funds for the community and to show support for skateboarding culture and take it out of a negative light. The City of Tacoma, skateboard and snowboard shops and other local skateboarders organized Go Skate Tacoma as a way to help educate people and hopefully get rid of the negative connotations.
Roots Skatepark located in Kamehameha Park in Kappau, Hawaii, held their 3rd Annual Go Skate Day Parade fundraiser with the support of Oasis Skateboard Shop to help raise funds to finish their skatepark. Ocean Beach Surf & Skate, helped raise funds for local school, Ocean Beach Elementary, to combat the drastic budget cuts they face each year.
It was not just local streets that gathered to celebrate. Since the inception of Go Skateboarding nine years ago, the international event has seen exponential growth and has reached almost every continent. Participating countries included Romania, Greece, Portugal, Costa Rica, Columbia, Afghanistan, United Arab Emirates, Israel, South Africa, Czech Republic, Poland, China, Guatemala and more.
In Paris, Girl Team & Etnies arrived at the Go Skateboarding Day event at Palais de Tokyo. Among the attendees were Kenny Anderson, Brian Anderson, Natas Kaupas, Jose Rojo, Kyle Leeper, Chris Haslam and street artist Neckface. In Afghanistan, for the third year in a row skateboarders took to Kabul’s streets in the only Afghan public sports event with girls, boys and foreigners taking part together. They went from 40 to 180 skateboarders since 2009.
About IASC
The International Association of Skateboard Companies (IASC) is a non-profit trade association for skateboarding. Formed in 1995, IASC is a diverse group of skateboard manufacturers, distributors, contest organizers, private skate-parks, and passionate individuals. Members include a collaboration of people zealous about skateboarding with the single aim of protecting the integrity of it and pushing it forward on a global level. For further information, please visit www.skateboardiasc.org.
About Go Skateboarding Day
Go Skateboarding Day, held June 21st of every year, is the official holiday of skateboarding. Event locations are disclosed at local skate shops and at www.goskateboardingday.org, where you will also find information on how to create your own event, fundraiser, rally and more. While the holiday grows, the mission remains the same: Go skateboarding and have fun!
