Biltmore Sk8 Fest

by Justin Hayes

     On April 8, 2006 I attended the Sk8 Fest at Biltmore Baptist Church. My friends and I saw an exhibition from the KKSM Boarders. They came from all over the country. Some were from Idaho, and they told us it took over 40 hours to drive to North Carolina.  On their way here,  they just missed some really bad tornados in Tennessee.  The festival was originally planned to be held in the parking lot, but due to rain they set it up in the main auditorium of the church.

The KKSM boarders overall were pretty good. One of them dropped in on the quarter pipe from premo. Another one was trying to pull off no-comply 360 flips over a gap between two kicker ramps. One of the guys did a 360 flip over it.

It was pretty crowded, but an overall good time. It looked like there were over one hundred skaters there, which is evidence of the amount of skating interest in this area.  That is why we are working so hard to get a skate park or even a skate plaza nearby.  There would be a lot of kids that would come to skate.

The church set up ramps, etc. out of plywood so that we could skate.  The ramps were good if you could get on them. (Did I mention it was crowded?)  The bank was crowded within every inch, but there was just enough space on the half pipe to move. They also had a box and a rail set up. For non-skaters and younger kids there were inflatable things like a moon walk, and an obstacle course for them to play on.

After the skate exhibition, hip hop artist John Reuben gave a concert.  It was rap music, and the lead guitar player was pretty good. Some of the people who wanted to skate instead of listening to the concert, went out in the parking lot and skated. Overall it was a good festival. It gave the skaters something to do as there are not many things like that in this area. We appreciate Biltmore Baptist for hosting this event, and hope they do it again soon.