Eureka Jam IV // "Not An Event"
- Brandon Herbert
- 3 days ago
- 4 min read
Driving to Eureka Springs, AR is blissful enough, rolling up to an empty park added to the bliss. Local legend, Nick Gibson was one of the first to show up, aiding in the very little cleanup needed to greet the incoming crews driving in from all over. From Springfield to Oklahoma City, we had friends from all over drive in to hang for what only can be described as "classic skateboard tomfoolery".
Working in the world of branding, its hard for me not to view everything through the average mindset of "do an event" and all the challenges that come with it. As an event planner, you WANT to throw down on everything: buy a bunch food and grill, bring the tent and some product for sale, get other vendors involved, bring a band, have some things for the kids, scheduled itinerary, etc. But sometimes, its just nice to say "HEY we're skating on this day - you guys comin?" and that's what Eureka Jam is.
Us locals have been starting spring off for years with a session at Eureka Skatepark in Harmon Park, but not until a few years ago did we actually formalize the time... and formal should be used very lightly. Basically, the formula is: set a date and Mark Landry makes a flyer and a shirt. That's it! And don't think you are just gonna "get a shirt". You got ta be pretty dedicated to get a shirt - Mark ain't makin shirts for everyone so make your presence, camp with us and you MIGHT get one.
Dreamland Skateparks gave us a gem years ago and we have not let it to waste. This 3000 sq. ft. skatepark might be on the smaller side, but I don't think that takes from it, its actually additive. It's like a band booking a small club so everyone can be smashed together, equaling a more rowdy experience for the crowd. That's only amplified by Mark's custom boombox, providing ample jams the entire time. I don't think you can have a skate jam without music jams. There's another thing that occurs when more than one skater adds to the jukebox selection - the variety of music that influences skaters becomes more apparent. From Spanish fusion jazz to The Black Album, we had all the variety you would expect from a diverse group of socially-askew individuals.
As you would expect, shredders came out to shred and the camera men of the folds brought their tools of creation to capture the vibes and the hammers. First off, the stickman of the plains, Launchrampers Mike was on duty the entire time, making sure to cover the whole park and everyone trying to put their trick down. As a camera dude, its hard to hold on for someone to get a trick when other skaters, in another area of the park are landing stuff - name of the game. But he wasn't alone in the mission of coverage. Luckily the new mysterious film head to the Northwest Arkansas scene, DarkModePhoto Tony, was on site with his BatBackpack(TM) full of lenses and camera body's to a vintage Nikon VN-810 Hi8 camcorder which produced an awesome edit seen below. Shout out Scotty Alexander for the edit.
Mike and Tony were not alone with their filming duties, as Kevin from Stay True Bike & Barber was onsite, capturing every trick he could with the same respect given to any Thrasher cover photo. The dedication of time from Mike, Tony and Kevin is beyond respectable and the proof is seen all over this article. The craft of capturing skateboarding is slowly diminishing with the prevalence of cameras in your pocket via phones. But you start to discover that the desire to point a lens at someone skating never truly dies. Art capturing expression, expression capturing art. Yet another dynamic of the yin and yang of skate culture.
Not only were there skateboarders joining in - only the bravest of roller skaters are willing to skate Eureka bowl and we were lucky enough to have a few lady shredders with us to show us how to push eight wheels around that bowl. Julz with the flips in the deep end was literal jaw-dropping. Genuinely, watching rollerskaters and skateboarders enjoying the bowl together is always a firm reminder of the heritage of skateboarding still connecting with rollerskating at the core.
The comraderies that come from a skater's meeting of the minds day are always apparent. Skating with people you haven't skated with in a while or never skated with at all seems to take the vibes to eleven. This same phenomenon is seen at events like Kanis Bash, which every May, those who can make their way down to Little Rock where the same mind meld occurs, at much greater numbers and much larger vibes. But there is something nice about the subtleties of a smaller hang. It's also times like the that work can get done. Tristan, Lopez, Mark and Sidani got to work slapping some pool block on the elevator quarter that transitions into the bank wall. Now, getting a grind on that wall requires balls.
The sun was out most of the day - and so were the shredders. Frog Skateboards flow rider Anthony Dezaldevar has been crushing this park for years and he eats the deep end for breakfast. Hayes treats the deep like a miniramp. Fort Smith's iconic skater Nick Gibson exhibits his normal grace we all expect to see from a casual kill-stroll through any park. Nixa shredder Aiden came early to crush and kept the steam going from start to finish. OKC's Beanie pretends to be a street ripper most days but at Eureka, you would think the opposite.
The day felt full, even thought this may have been the first time we didn't grill. The added complexity of serving food for a bunch of dudes and dudettes was something we chose to leave out this year and mainly due to Mark's game plan of securing our afterparty camp location the night before which proved to be a huge advantage in retrospect. Next year, if you are a part of the Jam, you are invited to the afterparty. It's not advertised and its not formal - just like this "event". One flyer, bring your asses and hang it out. But maybe just figuratively...we got kids these days!
