Local shop seeks sponsors for National Go Skateboarding Day event

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — A local skateboarding shop is looking for the community’s helping hand in organizing a major event.

International Go Skateboarding Day will take place on June 21st, and Ripple Effect Board Co. at 10510 101 Avenue in Fort St. John is looking for sponsors for its event.

Event organizer River-Dawn Townsend said the company moved from its former home at Clairmont Frontage Road earlier this month.

“Since moving in here, we have noticed a huge increase in foot traffic to different types of customers,” said Townsend. “We’ve noticed people [of] different ages, a different variety of people.

“We live in a community where a lot of the youth know somebody that skateboards. It goes back a lot of years too.”

Go Skateboarding Day was first celebrated in 2003 by the International Association of Skateboard Companies’ former marketing director Don Brown and professional skateboarder Per Welinder to “elevate the energy of skateboarding around the world.” 

Townsend told Energeticcity.ca festivities will feature competitions in divisions from under 12, under 18, and an adult division over 18 years.

Categories will consist of best skate bowl trick, best trick on a rail and best skateboard setup.

A feature of the event will be a ‘hill bomb’ where multiple participants will start on their skateboards down the hill near North Peace Secondary School.

However, sponsors are needed, with Townsend saying a huge part of public events is community involvement.

“We have reached out to a few companies that have worked with us before,” said Townsend. “We are looking for either a physical object that [sponsors] would like to sponsor as a prize, or a monetary donation we could order from one of our suppliers.”

Although a memo obtained from Energeticcity.ca read Ripple Effect Board Co. might seek a professional skateboarder to come attend the festivities, Townsend admitted the status is in “limbo” with the deadline fast approaching.

“It is a tight turnaround for a lot of them right now being booked into other events,” said Townsend. “[But] the hope is there.”

Registration for Go Skateboarding Day will be $5 each, with half of the admissions going toward the winner of the hill bomb race, and the other half going toward the Fort St. John Women’s Resource Society.

It will take place on Saturday, June 21st at the Rotary Skate Park at 9204 93rd Avenue in Fort St. John starting at 11 a.m.

For more information or how to register, visit Ripple Effect Board Co.’s Facebook or Instagram pages.