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Bethlehem, PA- May 25-26, 2012– Homebase Skateshop is inviting the community to join them in celebrating their 10^th year in business in the Lehigh Valley by supporting a project very important to them, The Bethlehem Skateplaza over Memorial Day Weekend.  100% of the profits collected from this event will be donated to the Phase 2 of the project.

On Friday May 25^th a benefit dinner and silent auction will be held at Starters Riverport (17 W. 2^nd St Bethlehem) from 6-10pm.  The event cap the month long Dine & Donate fundraising drive where up to 10% of the food bill will be donated to the skateplaza.  Guests that arrive early will be seated with Homebase Skateshop in the Starters Riverport Banquet Hall and treated to complimentary hors devours and a 6 foot long birthday cake provided by a new local bakery, Sugar Babes Cupcakes.  Guests also have a chance to receive an anniversary gift bag and the Homebase &Vans collaboration t-shirt for a donation to the skateplaza while supplies last.  A video retrospective on Homebase’s 10-years of skateboarding in the Lehigh Valley will also be shown throughout the event.

The Bethlehem Skateplaza Silent Auction will be held in the banquet hall in support of the 2^nd Phase of the skateplaza project featuring prizes that will appeal to families, parents and skateboarders alike.  The auction items have been donated by local businesses:  The Hyatt Place, American Hairlines, Eskandalo, Apotheca Salon, Loose Threads Boutique, Touchstone Theatre, The Attic and the Bethlehem Golf Club to name a few.  Locally based but nationally known artist and vinyl toy designer, Brent Nolasco.  Vans Footwear is auctioning of a year’s supply of their “Half Cab” shoe.  The Hundreds brand apparel, Herschel Supply Co bags, Think Skateboards, HUF, Mighty Healthy and more have all committed prizes as well.  The auction will end at 10pm.  All winners will be announced and posted on www.Homebase610.com.

On Saturday May 26th an all age’s Homebase 10^th anniversary celebration will take place at the Bethlehem Skateplaza (1325 Steel Ave Bethlehem) from 12-6pm featuring a competition on the skateplaza course.  Early registration for beginner thru advanced skaters will begin at 11am.  It is a $10 donation to register for each of the 4 contests sponsored by The Hundreds, Nike SB, Lowcard Magazine and 5Boro Skateboards.  Games can be played outside of the skateplaza for a small cash donation to win prizes from the sponsors as well as a Homebase 10^th Anniversary T-shirt designed by local artist, Dane Thompson and screen-printed live by Lehigh Valley Apparel Creations.

The Easy Weenies Hot Dog Cart will be selling hot dogs to benefit the skateplaza.  Vita Coco will be giving away samples of their coconut water drinks to the community.  B-104 DJ Cap Cee will be providing music all day as well.  An information table on the Buy-A-Brick Fundraiser will also be set up to answer your question regarding the future phases of the skateplaza and how the local community can get involved. In case of rain, the outdoor skateplaza event will be rescheduled for Saturday June 2^nd.

Homebase strongly supports the impact the Bethlehem Skateplaza has made on the youth of Bethlehem by providing them with a safe and legal place they can continue to pursue their passion for skateboarding and maintaining an active lifestlye.  Efforts are being my by the City of Bethlehem, Northampton Community College and Homebase to provide skateboard lessons to under privileged in the local community so more kids have a chance to take advantage of the facility as it expands this Summer.

Thank you to everyone coming to help us celebrate this milestone for Homebase, as well as, all our friends and family.

From filming the old Hometeam610 videos to Homebase’s original location on S. New St to the opening of the skateplaza- there’s a lot of history and skatespots in Allentown, Easton and Bethlehem that have meaning.  This should be a fun trip down memory lane thanks to Spitfire.

Maybe we’ll hide a set of wheels at the original Homebase location. . . .

We did our first Homebase events at the Northampton Skatepark. . .

But we’ve also had a lot of good times at Saugy . . .

None of this would have been possible without the support of my friends.  I met most of them at the 1st skatepark in the 610.  Where was that again?

Better start following us on Instagram or Liking us on Facebook.  The first set of wheels is getting hidden today.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Happy Mother’s Day to all the Mama’s out there!

On Saturday, May 19th a fundraiser will be held at Richard’s Drive Inn (1550 Sulliivan Trail, Easton PA) to benefit the Easton Boys & Girls Club skatepark fund.  The goal of this organization is to build a free, permanent skatepark at Lower Hacketts park in Easton.
This is one possible layout for the park to be constructed at “Devil’s Den” at Lower Hacketts Park.
The Spring Fling will feature a little something for everyone.  From games, a moon bounce for the kids, haircuts for the shaggy, food for everyone and live music.  And of course skateboarding.

One of the bands that is scheduled to appear is the Easton band Settle, who will be performing new music from their upcoming record, like this one here: http://soundcloud.com/settleband/december-girls

There were also be a performance by New Jersey pop punk band Once by the Atlantic, who are currently working on their debut EP.
Other bands scheduled to appear include: Troubler, Quarter after Four, and One Way Out- with more to be announced as the date nears.

And did I mention there will be skateboarding yet?  Similar events have been held in the Easton area over the past couple years, and they always bring out a good  crowd  of  skaters.  Be it  games of S.K.A.T.E., best trick contests or just having fun with the homies- there will be something for every skateboarder at any level to enjoy.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The Hundreds

Thrasher Magazine Softgoods

Lowcard Magazine Softgoods

Insight

Fourstar Clothing

Omit Clothing

Hardtimes Skateboards

Stereo Skateboards and Vinyl Cruiser Wheel Sets

Homebase x Shortwave ‘Zine = ShortBase x HomeWave Available Friday, Girls ribbed tank tops avaiable now.

Everything we received this week is available now at Homebase. If you see anything you like and you are not in the 610,  drop us a message and we will ship it out.  EXCEPT for the Nike SB “Premier” Dunk Lows.  Check out www.Homebase610.com/shop for our best deals and clearances.

Jake Todd and the “Fully Flaccid” crew are perfect examples of that so we’re going to throw an in-store premier at Homebase on Sunday (get your Mother’s Day stuff done early!) at 7pm.  I’m sure the Matt Militano, Giorgio Villone, Kevin Liedtke, Anthomy Tomasetti and the rest of the crew will be in town shredding the plaza before it goes down so get out there,  skate- then y’all come on back to the shop now ya’ heard.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Featuring:
Anthony Tomasetti
Matt Militano
Josh Feist
Jack Gannon
Evan Dittig
John Devine
Giorgio Villone
Brett Ross
Neil Herrick
Kevin Liedtke
and Friends

Filmed and Edited by Jake Todd and maybe some help by Neil Herrick
Additional Filming: Matt Steindl and Dylan Holderness

Premiere Info:

Friday May 11th Premiere 8pm at Kinetic Skateshop
5319 Concord Pile Wilmington, DE

Saturday May 12th Premiere all day at Fairman’s Skateshop and then come hang out with everyone in the video for more showing 7-9
43 West Gay Street West Chester, Pa 19380

Sunday May 13th Premiere 8pm at Homebase Skateshop
14 West 4th Street Bethlehem, PA 10815

Click here to view the embedded video.

When I stopped by he said, “I have something for you to Instagram” and he pulled out the construction contracts for Phase 2.  In order for construction to begin, the contracts need 3 signatures: Ralph’s, the contractor’s and the Mayor’s.

1 down.  2 to more to go.

All our fundraising efforts and the pride we take to keep the skateplaza safe and clean do not go out the window now.  Even with the completion of Phase 2, that’s still ONLY HALF of the total design the City approved.  The bigger it gets, the more we have to take care of.  If we can keep doing that, we’re looking at the possibility of lights, longer hours, bigger events and possibly bigger sponsorships to help finish the skateplaza.

Seriously, next time you see Ralph, ask him for his autograph.  He’ll be at the Homebase 10th Anniversary events on May 25th & 26th.  Hope you are all planning on staying in the 610 for Memorial Day Weekend.  It’s definitely going to be memorable. 

Please don’t forget that the Dine & Donate fundraiser is still going on and continues until we host our 10 Year Anniversary party at Starters on Friday May 25th.  You’re going to eventually eat out right?  So any meal you eat at Starters until then can potentially donate 10% to the Bethlehem Skateplaza.  Donation coupons are available at Homebase.

Special thanks to you, Mo Taylor & Starters Riverport staff for hosting the event.

B104 DJ’s Cap Cee, Mr. Dynamite, Mike Kelly, Stephanie Wells for promoting on-air and guest bartending.

Mayor Callahan for working like a champ behind the bar.

Ralph Carp & The Parks and Recreation Department for going above and beyond to see that the skateplaza gets built.

The lovely ladies for the D.B.A. Sam Schwartz, Kara Johnson and Loly Reynolds for bartending as well as spreading the word through the community.  Thanks to longtime Homebase & skateplaza supporters, Rick Nuno and Becky Bodnar for working behind the bar as well.

Can’t forget to thank all those people who bought bricks that night and those who tried to buy bricks before the technical difficulties set in.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Huge thanks again to Trip Brown for slaving away to make Brick by Brick: A Documentary on the Bethlehem Skateplaza possible.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Homebase can only do these type of events and get as much done in the community with the help of our crew: Dave Hill, Josh Novak, Mike Panic, Ben Taylor and all the volunteers who put in work that night.

And again, thanks to everyone who came to Dine & Donate.  Check the Homebase Facebook to see the rest of the photos Mike Panic took that night.

See you all on May 25th for the Homebase 10 Year Party!

Just to give you a quick report, WE raised $1062.00 in tips at the bar alone for the skateplaza.  Starters is tabulating the total donation from the food sales from the night now.  If you missed dinner last night, you can still donate up to 10% of ANY MEAL you eat at Starters until May 25th. . . . just print this coupon and present it when you pay.

A full post of photos, video and the skateplaza documentary will be up soon.

Save the date now, May 25th we will be back at Starters Riverport for the Homebase 10th Anniversary Birthday Party.  Yesterday was all about you giving to the skateplaza, May will be all about us giving back to you.

This has truly been a D.I.Y. documentary meant to tell an important story about an important cause to many of us who use the skateplaza daily.  I can’t thank Trip enough for stepping up to tackle this project with me- especially knowing I’m not the easiest person to work with when I REALLY want to get something done in a short amount of time.  We shot this documentary in under a month’s time.  With the help of Matt Pepe and the LV Mirror for additional interview footage, I think we were really able to pull together a solid story about how the Bethlehem Skateplaza is a project that fits right into our progressive community which not only benefits the youth but also the economy.

Trip must have edited this in under 48 hours- some of that in 12 hours stretches using 2 locations just to get a change of scenery.  Staring at a computer for that long can drive you to do crazy things.  Like planking at Wegmans at 2am.

One of the highlights from this project was getting to interview Steve Van Doren, the son of the Vans Footwear Co-Founder and face of Vans Footwear today.  The interview took place in Phoenix during the PHXAM Contest that Vans sponsor’s.  The contest brings skateboarders from all over the world out to compete and national media attention to their skateplaza.

With the help of Adam Temple at A.R.T. Productions, we’ve been able to incorporate 3-D renderings of what we hope to build in Phase 2 over some footage Trip shot of the cleared out area.  You can virtually visualize what it will be like to skate Phase 2.

Got a text from Trip at 10am this morning letting me know he was almost done editing and hadn’t slept since he left my office at 12am.  That’s real commitment to the cause.  I hope you all can make it out to see this labor of love . . . . . and I hope Trip can stay awake for it.

See you here at 6pm!  Starters Riverport: 17 W. 2nd St.  Bethlehem, PA.  It’s only a walk down the street from Homebase.

Present this voucher to your server when you pay your dinner bill to donate up to 15% to the Bethlehem Skateplaza TONIGHT . . . . but also anytime you eat at Starters until our 10 year anniversay party on May 25th.