Check it…

Our friends at Skate-Spot in Lafayette are about to do it right! They’re holding an advanced open jam format contest in the bowl… first place gets cash in hand. Even better, my friend Donnie (aka Babykilla) will be making a batch of gumbo to feed the hungry masses… and Donnie can cook as well as he skates (great on both counts).

The address:
4317 Johnston St.
Lafayette, LA
70503

Even if you don’t want to enter, try to make it out so you can bro down with some more Louisiana skaters.

New shop decks (featuring new colorways) and a new shop graphic deck will be in very soon (maybe even this week). I’ve seen sketches of the graphic, and I can honestly say that it’s probably the best one yet. I’ll make sure you see them here on the site the day they come out.

Just a reminder… it’s not too late to get your wishlist filled out. May Skater Claus give you more than you hope for.

I pick on Baton Rouge a lot because of it’s lack of support for the skate community and for Baton Rouge’s ineffective Parks and Recreation department… and this post is no different. Sorry, I can’t help myself.

There are some people at BREC that want to do the right thing… Jason Hoggatt is one of those people. He posts in our forums to let everyone know what’s going on in the capital city, but Jason’s job is hampered by a ton of red tape, a gridlocked bureaucracy, and an organization crippled by infighting and good old fashioned Louisiana politics. With the demise of Revolution Skate Park (which was the only privately owned park in BR at the time), Baton Rouge skaters are again left with no legal place to skate except for the Velodrome. It occured to me that I’d never posted any pics of the place, and for some of you the Velodrome park was just a curiosity that you could only imagine… now i have some pics of the place so you can see it for yourself.

Click on the image below for a gallery:

To slightly paraphrase my friends over at Skaters for Public Skateparks, if your city doesn’t build a proper skatepark, then your city is a skatepark.

I won’t make this completely negative however… there are three good things that BREC’s park have going for it…

1. Jason (as mentioned above).
2. BREC has allowed skaters to contribute extra ramps to the facility, and even though they may be creaky and weathered, they’re there to ride.
3. Colton. Colton is a skater that I’ve known for a few years now… he’s a really good person and a hell of a skater… when I went over there last Friday, he was managing the place. He’s exactly the type of person you want to run your park… and I mean that whole heartedly.

Beyond that, the only thing Baton Rouge really has to offer skateboarders is a great downtown, LSU, and other skatespots peppered throughout. Until then, if you’re a Hammond local (or a regular), you aren’t missing anything in East Baton Rouge parish.

Some of you that visit the site regularly may not be able to see the new menu at the top of the page… on the top of the page, you should see “Home Columbia Forums Photos” and “Contact” (Columbia being the new addition).

If you can’t see it, that means that your computer has saved the old version of the navigation… to fix this, click on the “tools” button at the top of your browser. Depending on which browser you’re using, you should either delete your “temporary internet files,” “cache,” or “offline content.” When you’ve done this, refresh the page and you should see the new navigation. If you have any questions, just post something in the forum and I’ll walk you through it.