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| Skatopia |
The Lounge Feature |
Words by : Caz Ridings
Situated on the foothills of the Appalachian mountains, Brewce Martin’s sprawling skate haven, better known as Skatopia, has long been regarded by skaters in the know as a sacred place for pilgrimage. Specifically, it’s 88 acres of renegade real estate sitting on one of the poorest regions of America - where laws and rules don’t apply.
This year Brewce and his crew are putting together a documentary effort on the realm of Skatopia for a release sometime in 2007. Loaded with facts and information to the skate compound’s happenings and history, the place comes across as a kind of warped Disneyland of hardcore skateboard parks right in the middle of Appalachia with the freedom to do whatever you want - as long as Brewce says you can.
So when did Skatopia emerge? According to Brewce, when he was born. At 12 months he got a truck and spun the wheels for an hour, and he reckons his obsession with wheels never stopped. But it’s easier to pinpoint a more direct precursor to Skatopia - in 1995, when he and his 10 year-old son Brandon got kicked off of their West Virginia farm for building skateboard ramps. After their eviction, Brewce looked for a place where he could live his dream big... really big. On 88 acres in Meigs County, Ohio, the wooden bowl went in before the house. Utilities were sometimes off, sometimes on. But the dogs got fed. Brewce home schooled Brandon ("he was like a pair of pants to me").
Skaters and locals came for the serious vert skating, the parties and the burning cars. Led by Brewce, they pitched in to build a multi-million dollar skatepark on the former pot farm. "Brewce can make you do things you normally wouldn't feel that good about" says one of his oldest friends.
Brewce is ready to take Skatopia big now. He and Brandon want to build the best skate park in the world and keep it free to skaters - "just give up your beer!" But keeping it free takes some serious revenue... and cashing in without selling out is hard. Brewce, a natural marketing genius by his own account, is still unsure whether to set loose his inner CEO. "If Brewce weren't a skateboarder he'd be the CEO of a major company and he'd be ruthless," says one of the core skaters at Skatopia.
In the movie “Skatopia: 88 Acres of Anarchy”, the footage will follow Brewce and his CIA guys as they try to push Skatopia to the next level. You'll see an entire skate film's worth of balls to the wall skating, burning cars and insane partiers. But you'll also see a side of Skatopia rarely seen by anyone but a few insiders. Who are these guys? Are they as hardcore as they say they are? How do they keep Skatopia alive?
Peel back the layers of testosterone and you reveal a real community. People come from all over to skate, to be part of it, to feel what it's like to have elbow room. Most pitch in however they can. And leave your stereotypes at the gate. Someone who looks completely wasted is actually straight edge, but the guy hitting 4 foot McTwists should have passed out a long time ago. The mosh-pit maniac is a librarian and professor, the punk drummer designs software programs for NASA. The guy in the wheelchair hit 80 mph bombing a mountain in Colorado and is shooting for 120 mph in a chair he's designing. There's a locksmith watching the stripping contest, a punk refugee from the suburbs skating the cradle, and a homeless anarchist cowboy digging a mud-wrestling pit.
Just beyond the Skatopia border lurks the Rutland cop, hoping to beef up the empty county coffers by ticketing skaters for anything he can think of. At the same time, the Chamber of Commerce praises Brewce's work ethic... since Skatopia is the biggest tourist attraction in Meig's County, Ohio, Appalachia. Otherwise, Brewce seems to have charmed enough of the locals that he can venture forth and greet them like a local politician. In fact, maybe that's what Ohio needs - a little anarchy in the state senate. But that would be the sequel...
This movie will limit itself to a few simple questions - Does risking your life mean you're stupid? Or does it make you more alive? Do we need our visionaries to be perfect humans? And why does most people’s idea of fun or freedom reduce them to behaving like knuckleheads? What are the unspoken rules within anarchy? And how much money can you make off of society without becoming part of it?
But while we wait for the movie to lift the lid on Skateopia, check out clips of the impending action on their website: www.skatopiathemovie.com
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Tags: The Lounge, Sport
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