The second annual 7 Gen Skate Festival will happen at Vancouver’s PNE Forum on the weekend of Nov. 11-12.
Featuring pro and amateur skaters, the two-day fest offers more than $20,000 in prize money, marketplace, skate demos and clinics, food trucks, a Saturday concert, Indigenous ceremonies and other attractions.
White Rock-raised Andy Anderson will demo with fellow Olympians Matt Berger and Micky Papa, along with Team Canada skaters TJ Rogers, Fay De Fazio Ebert and Cordano Russell. Returning is 2022 champion, Jake Wooten, alongside Chris Colbourn.
Last year, Generations Skateboard Society launched the 7 Gen festival as a weekend of skateboarding, Indigenous sharing and community. The organization’s directors include Surrey residents Brenda Knights, president and CEO of BC Indigenous Housing Society, and fiancé Renee Renee, an emcee, actor, artist, entertainer and skater.
A post on 7genskate.com says the event name is “inspired by the philosophy of considering the impact on seven future generations and by the seven traditional laws of the Kwantlen First Nation.”
This year’s arena features a street course, six-foot halfpipe, the “Ultimate Canoe,” and RDS granite ledges.
Opening ceremonies are at 12:30 p.m. Saturday (Nov. 11), followed by men’s and women’s contests, finals, best tricks, a 7 p.m. concert (music by Knightwolfs, Whollum, Contra Code, DJ Dark Circles) and skate session.
Sunday, pro contest heats start at noon, followed by 3 p.m. finals and 5:30 awards.
Other attractions include Vulcan Bolts Long-Jump, Pylon Skateboards Death Race and trick battles. Demos/clinics are done in the community park by Ramptime Productions, emceeing by Renee Renee and music by DJ Vinyl Ritchie in the Red Bull Event Vehicle.
Tickets range from $19 to 49 on ticketleader.ca.