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Tony Hawk's Gigantic Skatepark Tour Dates
By Press Release
Tony Hawk’s Gigantic Skatepark Tour Rolls
Across US World Champion Skateboarder
and ESPN Team Up for Twelve City Tour
Tony Hawk, takes to America’s biggest and
best skateparks this summer for a
nationwide skatepark tour which will be
televised on ESPN and ESPN 2. The tour,
which is divided into three sections, will hit
the west coast June 18th –25th, 2000
followed by the east coast July 9th –15th
and the mid-west July 29th –August 5th.
The tour gets underway June 18th in San
Diego, CA.
Hawk will gather a group of fellow
skateboarders and BMX riders to hit 12 cities
throughout the United States this summer.
The tour will stop at parks ranging from
those with an extensive skate history such as
Kona Skatepark in Jacksonville, FL to Camp
Woodward, the most recognized alternative
sports summer camp in the United States in
Woodard, PA.
The skaters and BMX riders will travel the
US in a tour bus exploring not just the parks
that they attend for demonstrations, but
other points of interest and skateboarding
scenes as well. ESPN and ESPN 2 are
teaming up with Hawk to produce 8 hours of
original programming that will focus on the
tour and the athletes as well as lifestyle
elements on the bus.
For the first time, ESPN’s coverage will
document a skateboarding tour from start to
finish and will enable the network to convey
the lifestyle and culture of these sports and
the athletes that live them. The television
airing dates kick-off July 11, 2000 and will
be hosted by on-camera X Games talent
Selema Masekela and ESPN’s Paved New
World host Rob Wells.
The final tour schedule and athletes are as
follows WEST COAST June 18--Mission
Valley, San Diego, CA
June 20--Skate Street, Ventura, CA
June 22--Real Ride Skatepark, Las Vegas,
NV
June 24--Real Ride Skatepark, Salt Lake
City, UT
Skaters--Tony Hawk, Bob Burnquist, Colin
McKay, Willy Santos, Kris Markovich,
Andrew Reynolds and BMX pros Rick
Thorne and Mike "Rooftop" Escamilla EAST
COAST
July 8--Kona Skatepark, Jacksonville, FL
July 10--Rampage Skatepark, Duluth, GA
July 12--Eastwood Skatepark, Wilmington,
NC
July 14--Skaters Island, Middletown, RI
Skaters--Tony Hawk, Bam Margiera, Alex
Chalmers, Anthony Furlong, Brian Sumner
and BMX pros Mat Hoffman and Mike
"Rooftop" Escamilla MID WEST
July 29--Vans Skatepark, Woodbridge, VA
July 31--Woodward Camp, Woodward, PA
August 2--Airborne, Roseville, MI
August 4--WARP, Woodstock, IL
Skaters--Tony Hawk, Kris Markovich, Andy
Macdonald, Willy Santos, Bam Margiera and
BMX pros Mat Hoffman and Mike "Rooftop"
Escamilla
Vans Skatepark in Milpitas, California Opens
On Thursday, June 22nd, Vans opened its
doors to the newest skatepark in its family.
Over 500 people were in attendance for the
private grand opening and a record 5,000
showed up over the weekend for the 59,000
square foot facility located in Milpitas,
California, in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Hundreds of media, select industry VIPs, and
professional skateboarders were in attendance
to break in the new pools, coping, and rails,
including Steve Caballero, John Cardiel, Willy
Santos, Salman Agah, Tony Alva, Steve Alba,
Jason Jessee, Poncho Moler, Justin Strubing,
Craig Johnson, and pro snowboarder Travis
Parker.
In addition, a special ribbon cutting ceremony
was held that included presentations to the
Mayor of Milpitas, as well as skatepark crew
and designers. Steve Caballero also made an
emotional presentation to Dave Brady,
manager of the original Winchester
Skatepark. One of the new Vans Skatepark
pools is a replica of Winchester’s
Washboard. Also, Vans' own Steve Van
Doren unveiled a large banner that was on
display in memory of local San Jose pro
skateboarder Tim Brauch, whose family was
in attendance for the occasion.
"This is a very exciting moment for us," said
Steve Van Doren, Vans' Vice President of
Events and Promotions. "When we opened
our first skatepark in Orange, we would
never have guessed that we would be opening
our fifth skatepark in less than two years. We
would just like to thank all the skaters, pros,
and industry members who have helped make
these projects a huge success."
A special celebration was held Friday, June
23rd to kick-off the grand opening for the
public. Vans professional skateboarding
athletes were on hand for autograph sessions
and demos, and free pizza and drinks were
served. The first 100 people through the door
also received a free skatepark t-shirt from
Vans.
Highlights of the park include; a professional
pool with a five-foot deep square shallow end
that drops to a twelve-foot deep round end, a
pee-wee pool with a three-foot deep
rectangular shallow end that drops to a
five-foot deep Mickey Mouse-eared deep end,
a replica of the Winchester washboard, a
40-foot wide competition halfpipe, a 48-foot
wide mini-ramp with a slight hip and bowl, a
5,000-plus square-foot pee-wee street
course, and a 15,000-plus square-foot
intermediate and professional street course,
complete with banks, ramps, ledges, and
rails. The retail component includes a retail
store that carries Vans' skate, BMX, and
snowboard footwear and apparel, as well as a
complete pro shop that sells skate, BMX,
snowboard, and wakeboard hardgoods and
accessories.
Vans currently operates five skateparks in
Orange, California, Bakersfield, California,
Ontario, California, Woodbridge, Virginia, and
now Milpitas, California. Each facility is
unique in size, layout, and design of the
parks' skateable features and pools. The Vans
Skatepark in Ontario, California also includes
an indoor BMX street course and outdoor
BMX dirt jumping area and the Woodbridge
location is currently the world's largest
skatepark. Future Vans Skateparks are
scheduled to open in Houston, Texas and
Westminster, Colorado by the end of the
year, with future skateparks planned for
Detroit, Michigan, Orlando, Florida and
Toronto, Canada.