Wheels and trucks will roll and grind on pavement and metal this Saturday for the annual Skate Jam at the Concord Skatepark.
On Saturday, the Concord Skatepark Association will host its largest annual event — and its biggest fundraiser to date — with the goal of trying to bring people from the greater Concord area and beyond to enjoy a full day of skating and support the efforts to get a new skate park.
“Just bring your skateboard,” said organizer Chris Harrington.
He gave a brief preview of what attendees can expect.
“We might have fun afterwards and maybe do a best trick on a certain feature at the skate park. It’s kind of random, and we play it by ear. So we’ll also be doing our raffles,” Harrington said. “For prizes, we’ll have a lot of skateboard products, merchandise, hats, T-shirts, whatnot.”
The association has worked toward completely redoing and upgrading the skate park at Kiwanis Riverfront since coalescing in 2020. The Skate Jam will feature skate vendors from everywhere in the state.
Skateboarders, like any athlete, need food to fuel their ride — not quite the Tom Brady diet, though. The Skate Jam will also bring in local sensations such as Chris Bremmer’s famous Chicago-style hot dogs from Country Spirit in Henniker.
All of the proceeds from the event will go toward matching a land and water conservation grant of $500,000 secured by the city.
The estimated total cost of the skate park design is $1.8 million. The grant and fundraising would cover $1 million of that sum, so the sooner the association can reach that first phase, the easier it will become to continue growing to build the park it wants.
To build up the event and keep it cost-effective, there will not be live music, but there will be classic tunes blasting over the speakers throughout. The Jam will have two skateboarding competitions, one for under-15 and one for 16-year-olds and older, with breaks for free skating in between.
Harrington said skaters of all levels and walks of life are welcome at the park — still on a mission to meet its fundraising goal — and the Skate Jam is a prime moment for connection with the local scene.