Empire Backyard Party 2012 and a Lurk Through Montreal
Posted on Monday, August 27, 2012 by Rob Meronek
Photos and Words by Rob Meronek
| If you get a parking ticket in a foreign country, do you pay it? |
| Schaefer and Eric Mercier, the organizer of the BYP, with HiDefJoe working on SPoT Life. |
| The Big O is currently under dirt right around the corner from the Contest. They moved it to a new area to keep it skateable, but some kind of engineering damage happened on the property, which caused delays in having it ready to rip. |
| We had a little bit of free time to wander the city, so we ended up at P45, Montreal's amazing DIY spot. |
| Pat's here to help us with putting together a SPoT Life episode and of course offers much better skating for the video than us old guys. |
| Pat Tremblay is a local in Montreal. That's a backside tailslide with some rails, old guy style. |
| HiDefJoe on a frontside tailslide. |
| The whole Ace team is here shredding the place. That's Oscar Navaro on a backside tailslide. |
| I'm old enough to have had Rubbish Heap on rotation when I first started skating, so I'm star struck every time I see Ron Chatman. He's still killing it well into his 40's. You will be too if you don't overdo it on the booze and partying. |
| Tom Remillard – frontside floater. |
| I should make one of these every time I lose my skateboard. |
| They love their handsome cab rides here. All I can think is Beefaroni and Kramer when I see one of these. |
| There are tons of fancy date night places to take your lady. We had a big ass dude dinner in there. |
| Canadian bike helmet. |
| Friday night was the Bones Brigade movie premiere. It was packed and loud and red. |
| Tommy Guerrero was here with the Bones Brigade. |
| Birdman was here, too, in full autograph mode as usual. |
| Rubbish Heap was the video where Rodney Mullen had his freestyle board officially focused and was given a street board. It was awesome getting a photo with him and finally getting to meet him after watching him in videos for 20 years. |
| Chuck Treece was on drums for a show after the video. |
| Tommy Guerrero was on bass. |
| Ray Barbee played, too. Damn, if you’ve been skating for a while, you were like a kid all over again tonight. |
| The set list. |
| Rodney’s riding a pretty skinny board. |
| Thanks for the nice words about Skatepark of Tampa, Rodney. |
| We’re on site at the Contest venue now, which is some kind of Olympic stadium. Here is where the girls shower, apparently with dresses on. |
| Schaefer can’t resist a blue collar work opportunity. Pat Stiener has to think twice about it. |
| Canadian ladder. |
| A photo of the sky shows how dirty my lens is. This is the 1976 Olympic stadium. |
| Alright, it’s time for the Contest now. The courtyard is full of circus madness like this wind tunnel giveaway. |
| Schaefer is ready to host. |
| Judges are ready to judge. |
| Skaters are ready to rip. That’s Keegan Sauder shortly before smacking his tail. |
| Adam Hopkins is here with the Ace crew. That’s a gay twist. |
| Our new young homie Jayden Bono is from Canada. That’s a frontside flip. See you in Toronto next weekend, Jayden. |
| Scott Decenzo – kickflip into the big hip. |
| Curren’s signature frontside tucker. |
| Oscar Navaro – back smith on the wall. |
| Dune, Justin, and John were on the webcast. |
| Curren Caples – front blunt on the wall. |
| Tom Remillard – front rock. |
| Adam Hopkins – lein to tail. |
| Ronnie Sandoval – front rock. |
| Keegan Sauder – frontside air. |
| Kyle Berard had to switch carve into this fakie flip to setup. He killed it on the tranny and the hip to win this year. |
| These Canadian beauties were serving American Bud Light all day. |
| Zack Ferguson – backside disaster on the wall. |
| The trophies can be used with your fingerboard. |
| Congrats Kyle Berard for taking this year's Empire Backyard Party. |
