Red Bull has an interesting documentary on the Montreal, Quebec skate scene with the ulterior motive of furthering the case of getting good public skateparks built. Dire Skate is a 22 minute film made by Dan Mathieu of Exposé skateboard magazine. It delves into some history of the scene, including Big O, an atrocious city-funded skatepark built by a generic construction company, as well as efforts to legalize a famous Love Park style spot. Definitely worth watching. – Thanks to Kevin -Live for the tip.

Big O is officially “open” for skateboarding again, after a two year absence. What was going on for two years? A new soccer stadium was being built, and the spot was supposed to be demoed with the old stadium. The community saved it by raising the money to have it physically dug up and relocated. It sounds absurd, but it’s true. Check it out on Exposé. – Thanks to Kevin for the tip.

It’s been around since 1976, skated heavily since then, and it even has a book dedicated to it. When Big O was in danger of being destroyed an expanding soccer stadium, locals banded together to try and save it. So what happened? Probably the most unlikely outcome, they dug it out, picked it up and set it on a trolley to move it out of harm’s way. That’s got to be a pretty satisfactory resolution, right? Now consider the fact that the relocation has already cost $100,000 (American or Canadian?) and it isn’t even in it’s final resting place. Weigh that $100,000+ against what they could have built with that money instead. They probably could have built two identical Big O’s side by side to the exact same specifications. Still, I can imagine the locals being skeptical of any new “skatepark” built on the location of such a historic spot. Imagine the city of Portland suggesting “We need to tear down Burnside under the bridge, but we’ll build you another spot across the street.” Look at the photo of Big O unearthed. There are no rough edges visible from where the concrete meets the dirt and everything looks completely uniform…

This is a Dan Mathieu photo of Kevin Cann skating the more or less DIY fueled skatepark in Notre Dame de L’ile Perrot, a small town outside of Montreal, Quebec. Kevin is the guy who made this park happen, with the help of a host of others. Those of you who read my column in Concrete Wave know the story of this park, if not, I’ll be putting up a version of it here, soon.