“Clark Kirkman (Faction Skate Company) opened up his ramp and his yard to the rollerblade community on Memorial Day Weekend 2021.
Many rollerbladers and rollerskaters showed up for this amazing opportunity to skate one of the "Dream Backyard Skateparks."
New York, Virginia, Ohio, West Virginia, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and quite a few other states landed a handful of bladers to come skate Clark's Dream.
But so many dreams were met with the harsh reality of Mother Nature and her fickle sense of humor. What originally promised to be a great weekend for an even quickly changed to a weekend of rain and dreary skies. But we pushed on in hopes that the weather would change.
Friday was a promising start! Sunny and warm to start the day, perfect conditions to skate, the weather report pushed the storms back a few hours and we hoped that this was the break we needed.... IT WAS NOT! In the early afternoon the rains came and never really left. A mad scramble to cover the ramps with tarps was, once the ramps were covered the campers ran for cover. seeking shelter in our tents, under lean to tarp shelters, any where we could to try and keep dry.
But even with the random rain showers, the P-Rail got broke out (no footage, my bad), the ramps were able to be dried here and there for small sessions. So there was some skating happening.
Friday night brought the worst rains, a few campers tents got water in them from the torrents of rain, but our skates stayed dry. so we woke up Saturday morning and hoped for the best. We uncovered the ramps making small water falls and slip and slides (See Hyper Mike's Edit), and we broke out the towels and blowers. The ramps were dry in about and hour and skating commenced once again.... Only to be foiled by liquid sun once more.
So a small group of Bladers invaded Charm City Skatepark in Baltimore and sent it. The environment was hectic to say the least; every one was inside trying to sesh on the weekend. It was hard to find line, hard to find spots to stand, and hard to keep from running into people. During the short visit the Charm City, there was a twisted ankle, bruised hip, and a broken leg.... All bladers. But that didn't deter the spirit of the group.
We made It back to The Compound and saw there was a sesh going in the breaks in the rain. But again, Mother Nature decided to end our fun shortly after the return.
Sunday, many of us parted ways early to make the hours and hours and hours trek home, but many stayed because the weather seemed to hold. Sadly, I had a prior engagement and could not stay.
But don't be dismayed at the fact that in 3 days only about 6 total hours of skating happened, because we showed that the Bladr Community is strong and is willing to stick it out. I was truly blessed to have been a part of this event, and hope that in the future if Heidi allows Clark to do it again, I will be able to attend.
Skating, Laughs, and community made this trip one of my best memories! Thank you to to Clark and Metha (GetRolling.org) for making this happen! and thank you to the sponsors. Thank you the the bladers/rollerskaters that stuck it out!!!! Thank you to the young ladies selling muffins and rice crispy treats to keep us going!
And a Special Thank you to Heidi Kirkman for allowing us to invade your yard and homespace, I dunno if this would have happened with out you.
And an honored thank you to those that made the sacrifice for freedom so we could live free and be able to assemble this way.” - Murdah Militia
