Click here to view the embedded video.

Hyung Juhn vs. Brandon Sandt

Evan Sigafoos vs. Luke Koch

Tomorrow’s matches are . . .

Check out the complete Skateplaza Showdown Bracket HERE.

[Click for full sized imaged]

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.

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.

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

We’ve been consistently holding Saugy Sessions for over 5 years now.  It’s become a tradition for us at Homebase and hopefully for a lot of you who skate with us.  It’s kind of a trip to look back at some of the older videos and photos to see how young some homies were when they first started coming out to Homebase events.

And it’s always good to see faces that have been around since the Hometeam days- like Lost Soul’s Ray Gurz.  I don’t get to see Ray as often anymore since he’s now working at Double Decker Records in Allentown but he’s always in the streets with the Lost Soul crew paving their own way through the skate industry.  Support your local brands.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Eric Elliot vs. Jesse Switzer

Jesse Gangewere vs. Zach Chunko

Click here to view the embedded video.

Thanks to everyone that came out.  We raised a little over $30 in hot dog sales which will be added to the total donation we’re making to the skateplaza at the end of the Saugy Session season.  We’ll see you again on Monday May 28th.

Click HERE to see the full sizes version of the bracket.

Games of S.K.A.T.E. from last Monday’s Saugy Session/BBQ and the Best Trick will be up tomorrow for your viewing pleasure thanks to Matt Pepe’s editing mastery.

“When it comes to some of the younger generation of skateboarders from Easton, Jibril always comes to mind. I first met him by my Aunt’s house in Easton where I noticed him skating and immediately thought about how he reminded me of myself-skating in the street and just having fun learning tricks. We would cross paths every so often being skateboarders in the Lehigh Valley, and I would always say whats up to him. Long story short, I have seen him around for a few years now and he has done nothing but improved, on the board and as a person. He still hasn’t beat me in a game of s.k.a.t.e. though!!” (Disclaimer: He may or may not have beat me in a game of skate, and I may or may not be afraid to play him again.)

So for those who may not know you, how old are you, where are you from, and how long have you been skating?

Its weird now because everyone is spread out. Most of the people I grew up skating with have gotten into other things, and either rarely skate or completely stopped skating. For the people that do still skate in Easton they live in like Forks or Palmer and I usually have to drive to go skate with them.

So what are the hot spots in Easton now?

The hot spot now would have to be the area around the lipkins ledge. In that area you have the Larry Holmes manny pad, the parking garage, the street gap and the post office.

The two-stair ledge at the old Lipkin’s furniture building is notoriously hard to skate.  What is that best trick you’ve ever seen go down on that thing?

The best trick I have done on the Lipkins ledge was probably a back lip like 2 years ago. Other than that I am completely against the spot.

 My friends and I used to run in to a lot of really “interesting” people skating downtown late at night.  Have you ever seen anything crazy or gotten into any weird situations down there?

Last week me and my friends saw a drunk man harassing this hispanic lady. The man was telling her that she had a “Cake” and that it was fat.

 I keep hearing talk about a skatepark that may be in the works in the Easton area.  Do you know of anything that might be going on with that?

Yeah there should be a demo coming up within the next month or so to fundraise for the skatepark at lowerhacketts.

 Besides skateboarding, is there anything else that you’re really in to?

 Oh, wow.  Do you ever find it difficult to balance a pretty strenuous school and wrestling schedule and still have time to skateboard?

Its not difficult at all. Since wrestlings a winter sport and I dont dont skate as much during the winter it kinda works out.

 Alright, Jibril.  Thanks for doing this interview.  Got any last words for the people out there?  Any shout outs?

We’re also going to continue the next round of the Skateplaza S.K.A.T.E. Showdown as well.  Typically, the matches are held on the 1st & 3rd Mondays of the month at the plaza but why not break the rules?

Last time we saw two best friends go for each others throat in the first round of the Skateplaza S.K.A.T.E. Showdown.  Let’s see what happens in Round 2.

Click here to view the embedded video.

These Monday we’ll see:  Jesse Switzer vs Eric Elliot | Jesse Gangewere vs Zach Chunko.  Be sure you check the bracket for the upcoming matches & dates (click HERE to enlarge).

Click here to view the embedded video.

See you at Saugy on Monday. 

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.