I keep thinking this is a fake article, like something you’d find on the Onion, but it seems like it’s real. When I reported on it in June, it seemed like a bad idea, destined to go nowhere, but it popped up again in Denver’s Westworld News. Regardless of the plan to open a skatepark within an amusement park, I have to give him (Llewellyn Werner, the man behind the company) a little credit for advancing the sport. They are building four smaller “neighborhood” skateparks in Baghdad out of Freshpark Freshpark portable ramps to introduce kids to skateboarding free of charge. Is it working?
The first park was finally installed on September 8. But since September also marks the Muslim holiday of Ramadan and daytime temperatures regularly reach into the 110s, no one has yet used the skatepark. So the official opening is planned for the second week of October. The mayor of Baghdad and Iraq’s Minister of Youth and Sport are expected to be in attendance.
How did the the venture capital company come up with the idea? Jeff Wilson who is the “head of sport” has some sort of relationship with Grind King. It will be interesting to see if anyone shows up for the grand opening. I’m still not confident that the whole thing is legit, mostly because the only source is obscure and the images are super tiny. Something about it seems off.
[Source: Sublimited]
16 comments
Estes' Ghost
110 degrees to skate- no way. I hope they skate at night under some lights. Freshpark solves a problem, you can move that in seconds to make it ‘skateable” and you can move something into the shade or indoors.
PIGCITY
Was this not reported in last months Thrasher. If its the same thing it all seemed quite sketchy. Just a huge faceless company using it as an excuse for the West to extract more money from that area, they were just using the parks as a way in then proposed to build Hotels, Malls & all the Western shit that follows.
zed-word
Fuckin whatever PIGCITY! So what if someone is trying to make a profit, they still are risking alot by building something designed to make average Iraqi children’s lives a little better.
“Huge faceless company” my ass. These guys may be corporate but they are still doing more to spread the joy that is skateboarding than you ever have.
scum
skateboarding is not a “SPORT”
PIGCITY
@Zed read the article in Thrasher you prick. By the way skating is not an elite club anymore “Bro” theres quite a few guys out to make a big buck.
Anyway you’re super touchy about this one maybe a little vested interest???
Larry
if skateboarding is done in front of large crowds, with judges deciding who is “better”, and money given out in relation to who places better, and moms driving their kids to practice, than unfortunately it IS a sport. Fortunately, it’s a sport, much like golf, that can be done by yourself without depending on others to do well. And it’s much more fun than playing football.
george
The article from the Westword and the article in Thrasher are writtne by the same person.
CirqueDaddy
Ollie that Camel Spider, Muhammed.
CirqueDaddy
BTW google “Camel Spider”. Just do it…now.
Larry
dude, that camel spider stuff is insane.
Mac
http://www.snopes.com/photos/bugs/camelspider.asp
CirqueDaddy
Mac,
When we were on the front lines at night. We used to hear those bastards runnin’ around and screaming. It sounded like a stampede of horses. Screaming horses.
It used to bug out the FNG’s who would fire off rounds out of fear. It was hard to calm down those cherries.
I can still hear the screaming of the spiders.
Mac
Whoa.
CirqueDaddy
“Whoa” is right, Clarise!
zed-word
PIGCITY, I was unable to find the incriminating Thrasher article. I understand that alot of the deals that western companies are making in Iraq are shady and they stand to make alot of profit. That being said, they built a free skatepark. From the looks of it, a shitty free skatepark but somewhere to legally skate nonetheless.
Also, maybe a little bit of western tourism money would be good for this recovering nation. Westernization is not such a black and white issue, for every downside there is a positive. Look at Japan.
Kilwag
Oregon and Iraq, destination skate spots.