Another Spring On 4th comes and goes but it will be forever remembered in our hearts and minds . . .  and blogs.

My day consisted of me making bad jokes on a mic for several hours so you’ll have to excuse me if I tell a one-sided story of the day.

Spring on 4th is the Southside’s annual celebration of the end of Winter.  What better way to commemorate that than a day of eating chili, live music, drinking margaritas in the street and closing down a street for some good ol’ fashioned skateboarding?

The only way I can think of to top that would be to turn it all into a benefit for the Bethlehem Skateplaza . . .and what do you know, that’s exactly what we did.

We had a computer set up for voting on the Pepsi Refresh page at Homebase and information table set up on the street we closed down.

We collected used clothing all April so we could re-sell it on Spring On 4th as a fundraiser for the skateplaza.  Not only we were doing something that benefited our cause it was great to hear stories of parents coming by excited to by their kids clothing they normally wouldn’t be able to afford.  With t-shirts going for a $1, jeans for $10 or your best offer- it was a surprise we still had to take some boxes back to the shop.

We will continue to sell the remaining clothing at Homebase as a donation to the skateplaza til it’s all gone so stop by.

Wes Buck’s family helped us with our chili, “The Southside Scorcher.”  They didn’t have anything to do with the name and I don’t thing it was even spicy.  What it did have in it was venison “bagged” by Wes’ dad.  Mrs. Buck was generous enough to cook up a few pots for us and from what I heard it was delicious.  I wouldn’t know because I didn’t have a chance to try it- and I love eating.

With classic hip-hop playing in the background courtesy of Cap Cee, our benefit skate contests got started.

We held a high ollie contest first the old fashioned way: stacking boards.  Skaters threw in what cash and change they could for a shot to win a deck donated by DGK.

It was dope to get the crowd involved by allowing generous spectators to “buy” skaters back into the competition after they missed their ollie.  Throw a dollar in the jar and little johnny gets a another try at glory.  I felt like a Jake Phelps at Wallenburg contest except I was taking cash not giving it away.

The downhill angle of the street did make a high ollie contest a little awkward but Joey was still able to come out on top (get it?) by going over 6 decks.

Out in Bethlehem, BMXer’s and skaters get along fairly well and we try and work together to keep both our scenes growing.  So we always bring The Source into our events because it’s always made more sense to team up and go against ‘The Man” instead of each other.  The skaters had a chance to take a break while the riders did their high bunny hop contest and Game of S.O.U.R.C.E.

We took the street back with our Long Ollie Contest.  It sounded like a simple enough idea but then the logistics of the competition became very real real, very quickly.

The skaters pushed DOWNHILL to ollie over 5,10,20 decks lined up and had about 20-30 feet to stop before running into the crowd watching at the bottom.  The only thing we had set up to stop a board shooting out of control were wooden sawhorses with cardboard piled up in front of them and me standing in front of them like a soccer goalie.  Plus, the excitement of skaters clipping and sliding 10 feet on the pavement drew a bigger and bigger crowd that kept moving closer and closer to the action.

THANK GOD a boards went flying into the crowd of families, babies and dogs.  Around the 19 deck mark, Austin’s landed and shot his deck into the foot of some kids standing 6 feet away from where he landed.  Luckily he was wearing some moon boot skate shoes with humungous tongues and limpede away without a tear.

Austin held it down til the very end but came up a deck short.

In the end Kyle Gnuagler came out on top effortlessly landing an ollie over 21 decks.  Thanks to both the guys for putting their bodies on the line for the most impressive contest of the day.

The last event of the day was our benefit Game of S.K.A.T.E. Tournament.  32 skaters donated between $5 and $10 to the pot for a chance to win half and the other half was donated to the Bethlehem Skateplaza.

There were some epic matches that you should have been there to see in person but here’s one for you.  Thanks to Matt Pepe for doing the filming and editing.

I originally intended to have some hot girls holding the letter cards but ended up with Dustin and Shiner- who were just as good.  Thanks guys.

All in all the day was an amazing success.

The skaters were happy, the riders were happy and all the families were happy.

The sun stayed out all day and brought thousands of people out to the Southside.  People were hyped to see the plaza was well underway we raised just under $1000 for the Bethlehem Skateplaza when all was said and done.  I don’t think it could have gone any better.

I have to thank all the volunteers that helped me keep my sanity.  You all make these events possible.

Thanks to the Homebase staff and team, The Spring On 4th committee, MCM & The Source, Cap Cee & B104, Ray & Josh for holding everything together, Wes & The Bucks for the chili, Dustin & Shiner for judging, Mune & The Clothing Sale volunteers, Mike Panic & Max for photos and Kyle Skinner for volunteering just for the sake of helping me out.

Thank you all.

Enjoy the rest of the images from Mike Panic & Max Zahradnik: