Halloween: every normal grubby-fingered, sugar-junkie, whiny kid’s favourite holiday. It is second only to Christmas, where candy is replaced by more expensive and non-digestible gifts heaped upon spoiled little brats all over the world by overweight Caucasian males with a penchant for cookies.
But assuming one isn’t underage and hell-bent on a sucrose overdose, or performing satanic rituals to raise the dead for that matter, or getting too drunk to see…what does one do on Halloween?
Well, if you have a Super Dave Osbourne-meets-Tony Hawk complex you just might grab a longboard and head down the street in style.
Longboard you say? What is this? Some sort of board that happens to be long? You’re close, but not that close.
Okay, so here are the specs for all the skateboard unsavvy. Longboards on average have decks about twice the size of regular skateboards; they are designed much more for cruising and travel than for tricks. That isn’t to say a skilled rider can’t pull of some sick moves, but shorter decks are overwhelmingly designed more for this function. Longboards are like the Hummers of the Skateboard world, so watch the fuck out.
Recently Toronto has started to show signs that it is experiencing longboardmania. So where the hell did this Toronto Longboarders gang spring from?
It all started about four years ago with a gentleman named Tom Browne, who at the time was co-editor of an originally titled publication called International Longboarder. He teamed up with a guy named Mike Brookes, and BOOM! just like nuclear fusion; the Toronto Longboarders were founded.
Like all almost-hippie grassroots organizations, the stated mandates of this organization are grounded in good times, good people, and good cruising. Okay, the ‘cruising’ part might be unique to groups with some sort of device with a wheel or wheels. Remember, unicycles are a form of transportation too!
So these guys decide to start hosting this community event so that there is something to represent the faceless masses of Torontonian longboarders. And what better way to spread the word then by capturing the meet-ups with every sort of recording device possible? And if one were smart enough to throw it on a slick website, equally as engaging content-wise as aesthetically, then one would have the formula for instant popularity.
Think Brad Pitt as a webpage. Think Brad Pitt as a skateboard webpage! See for yourself at Torontolongboarders.com.
So what is this really all about? Who are the court-jester deck-riding nuts that run this whole thing? I mean, 80 people in white dress shirts, black pants, and a tie, all on skateboards as big as those damn genetically engineered fruits and veggies we all love? All bombing it down Yonge Street?
They are just regular guys from the city who are out to have fun, albeit in an unconventional manner.
The Toronto Longboarders annually have large, zany, official events in September and at Halloween, but people all over the city can be seen riding longboards every day of the week.
The Halloween Run this year has been declared by the organizers to be the biggest longboard event ever in the city. The longboarders invaded the longest street in the world, which is appropriate in its own way.
It was also made interesting by the fact that participants were asked to wear costumes. Some wore masks. Some even wore full body suits. Now that was a sight to see.
These guys just don’t give a fuck what they are doing or who is involved. They’re having fun, and that is all that matters.
Check out the longboard website for more details on this unconventional way to kill time with friends in Toronto.
