I wanted to share with you some news that is relevant to your understanding of the Canadian scene.
In particular, you need to elaborate slightly on the importance of Ontario in your write up.
You mention new jacks like Appleyard and Gailea - but what of Jason Corbett, Justin Bokma, Bill Weiss, Thomas Morgan, and Tom Boyle? Surely they could be mentioned in the same breath? Many readers of TWS would recognize those names...that is as essential to a historical perspective as mentioning the Richmond Skate Ranch....
Also, you could mention that Shred Central is small but does provide a top quality environment during those harsh Toronto winters....your article makes it sound like there are no winter facilities at all -
Ontario now has as many skateparks
as B.C. Within a few years, the park ratio will surely closely reflect the
population of Ontario (4x that of B.C.), resulting in a greater number of
parks here in the east.
Since the summer of 2000, municipalities have been building parks at a good
clip. So your talk about liability issues is clearly outdated.
I have 36 parks documented on my
site - (at the guide)...
Is it possible that we have as many parks as B.C. and even Alberta combined?
I think so....
Of these, at least 15 are very good facilities any skater would find worth visiting. Many pro teams have done demos in some of these parks. (Barrie, Brooklin, Hamilton, Kingston, Kitchener, London, Oakville, Peterborough, St. Catharines (x2), Toronto (x2), Vaughn, and Whitby.) The rest are often average and small, but provide the basic obstacles any kid needs to develop and progress. About 10 of the 36 I would consider flawed but functional. And only a couple truly stink.
Of interest, Jim Barnum of Spectrum Skatepark Creations, who designed the Whistler and Calgary parks has finished the design of the newest park in the Greater Toronto Area. Located in the eastern edge of Toronto, the Scarborough park will be a concrete facility with excellent obstacles. It will be likely constructed summer of 2002.
Even Victor Ford and Associates, who built some sketchy parks early on, are getting their act together. They had input from Matt and Ryan from SBC to design the new Cummer park in Toronto.
Parks are starting to look and ride real good here. Make no mistake. Ontario has, and will dominate. Where did McCrank originally come from? Many start east and end up west....
Also - the mega city, Toronto is a tad under 3 million....Maybe if you go from Niagara to Kingston you can scrounge up a clean 5 mill, but that's pushing it...
It may also be inacurrate to say most distros are based in Vancouver. Large business in heavily populated Ontario is done by S+J and Ultimate (who each have offices both east and west). Timebomb, Four Star, RDS and Centre truly represent from the West (though Centre has offices in Ontario as well). There are a large number of other companies involved in skateboarding, and even snowboarding, that are mostly headquartered in Ontario. The only reason BC gets the cool rep for pros and skate business is they have consistently warmer weather than we do and they are closer to California.
And that, is all I have to say.
Represent Tdot -
T.O. - Ontario!
Mike Simpson
Skate Gallery
Jack Brehmer
f/s boardslide