Back at the end of September, I packed a bag and flew down to Austin for the 5th NeverWas Skateboarding StupidFest.

StupidFest can best be described as a family reunion of sorts where a bunch of old skaters from all over decide that spending time in sewers covered with fire ants and the occasional rattlesnake is the best way to spend time. The first Fest was held in 2018 and it has been going strong with the exception of 2020 and 2021 when the even was cancelled because of COVID.

In the five years StupidFest has happened skaters have travelled from Tennessee, Texas, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Georgia, Maryland, Kansas, Missouri, Indiana, New Mexico, Alabama, Mississippi, and Arkansas. We have had two skaters from Canada and one from The Netherlands. The video we do each year has had skaters from the above locations, seven additional American states, two additional Canadian provinces, Austria, Great Britain, and New Zealand. This was the eight year of the video.

What really sets The Fest apart from other skateboarding events is that it isn’t all about the skating while being EXACTLY all about the skating. I know that sounds confusing but, when compared to other skate festivals where the best skaters dominate or corporate interests set the tone, StupidFest is about the experience. You are just as likely to hear a shout for a kickflip over a ditch gap by a young shedder as you are to hear one for someone doing their first frontside kickturn in a ditch. It is about the collective experience of skating, the feeling, the intangible moment where something magic happens.

Even a person like me that has been skating for 38 years can have those moments. Prior to my first Fest in 2018, I had not skated many “real” ditches. I had skated a few back in the 1980s in Baltimore that are long gone and I have my secret ditch here at home. I had never skated a ditch that had parking blocks or hips the way Texas ditches are blessed. This year I skated a spot that has been around forever to Austin natives but it was a first trip for me. I had visited the spot before but it was too wet to skate so I have been thinking about it for three years. The spot is called Reef. It is a small, for Texas, ditch with three foot walls that aren’t too steep and a flat that isn’t too short. The far end of the ditch has a pyramid. Looking at it it seems so mellow. Like most Texas ditches, that is deceiving. This ditch will tear you up if you aren’t careful. It is rough and faster than it appears.

I had my eye on a line over the pyramid and up the larger wall where a parking block was set in between two other obstacles. Getting to and then on the block would be a delicate move. You had to get over the pyramid with just the right amount of speed to hit the block with enough force to grind it but not so much that you go pitched into the wave obstacle next to it. I fought with it for an hour before I figured out the line. Drop in, up and over the pyramid and, SCREECH, grind the curb and back into the ditch. The magic of Texas ditches is that once you figure out the line, you own it forever. You will rarely miss after getting it.

That feeling goes back to what makes StupidFest special. A backside 5-O on a small bank is a basic trick. It won’t get you a cover of Thrasher. It is a better skater’s setup trick for something “real”. Still, at the Fest, people saw me putting in the work. They cheered me on and, when I eventually got it, the cheer went up as it I did something amazing. Well, it was amazing. This shared moments of triumph as so rare in life and we get to celebrate them together. So many times over the weekend someone got to be the one who got the cheers. A frontside slash grind on a raw edge, a boneless at Sonic Ditch, a rock and roll at Scorpion, a slappy at StElmo, all small victories, all major victories.

After some consideration, we are most likely giving StupidFest a year or two off to refresh the scene a little. Austin has been an excellent host and we want to give back by letting people hold good memories before the Fest become routine or the special shine wears off. I know some people will be sad but there are a lot of things on the table that might be in its place this year. Still, I can say that some of the best times I have had on a skateboard are a result of playing in a sewer with my friends.