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.

An update from Kevin Live on the pour at the DIY park in L’ile Perrot. Looks like the kids (and adults) had a fun and productive session. So I went big this year and blew my budget a bit for crete, I dipped into the cash for the contest this year, more crete means less prizes for the kids. So I let the word out and Vans gave me 5 pairs of shoes to raffle away for kids showing up and helping and some $ for the contest. I also emailed OG Tommy Guerrero at dlxsf and passed the message onto Damon Thornley. They were stoked on my diy and sent me a package to give away at the contest at the end of May.They filled the gaps for prizes. So really big thanks to Industry for backing up the scene. This day came together so good, no rain great weather, and a ton of kids just so stoked on building a park. One kid told me that I’m like a father to them, Respect. Just want to thank every body that helped and came to help make a really sick ass park that would stand ground in Portland Oregon…

Skate and Annoy is your source for L’ile Perrot skatepark coverage, can there be a doubt? The sanctioned DIY skatepark in L’ile Perrot, Quebec has a new pour scheduled this Saturday, rain or shine. Say hi to Kevin if you go. I only wish Skate and Annoy could cover the DIY scene in every small Canadian town.

Kevin Cann sent in some pics of homemade concrete coping he pours from a mould he made from a 2 part rubber mix of an existing block. He oils the mold up with a little motor oil before adding a high strength concrete, and then vibrates the mold to settle the mix and eliminate as many bubbles as possible. 12 hours later he pops it out and cures it in water for 5 days.

Kevin sent in an update on the DIY sanctioned park in his home town of Notre Dame de L’ile Perrot (Quebec, Canada) that he spearheads. I badgered the city for some $ for concrete, and they supplied the materials for the new corner we are going to do. I guess they value my volunteering for all the work and free sk8 lesson to the kids on Thursday’s. Any way we built some forms for some trannys, we are doing a corner and hips. We had a little rain but not much. We floated it good and then once it was all dry the rain came just in time.I am so impressed with this kid Alexis who is 7 and just kills it on tight tranny, he loves our pool and loves to skate. He was so down on floating the crete it was impressive, as is his older brother Nic, and dad Renaud.We don’t see many girls in skateboarding which is unfortunate, but Marianne came out to show she wants more crete and helped float the mud. A community that skates together stays together. Here in hockeyland, they just don’t get, but they are realizing that there is much more…

Kevin Cann sent in some pictures of his nephew Tristan Rennie who came up from California to skate with his uncle in Quebec. Check him out in some spots in and around Notre Dame de L’ile Perrot, including Kevin’s back yard.

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…

There was a little leftover concrete and rebar from the Notre Dame de L’ile Perrot addition that Kevin Cann was working on. Fortunately, he had previously made a mold for a parking block, and had it ready to go. Kevin is really excited to have some famous Tedder Stone on order for the new bowl, and who knows, maybe Kevin will become famous for his parking blocks!

Kevin Cann has been spearheading an effort to expand a small skatepark in a town called Notre Dame de L’ile Perrot, a small town outside of Montreal, Quebec. It started off as a DIY-esque park with the blessing and financial aid of the town, thanks in part to Kevin’s hard work and some open minds in city hall. I had forgotten to put this story up, actually, but I’m going to do this part first. The backstory will come later. Here’s the bottom line, the first stage of the park was a success (see picture here) and Kevin used that momentum and good will to add a proper bowl to the jersey barrier foundation the park already has. Pictures after the jump, thanks to Kevin.

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.