Last Saturday afternoon, a couple posing for their wedding pictures outside City Hall was surprised by a stream of over 900 longboarders zooming down University Avenue and into Nathan Phillips Square. The skaters—dressed in white shirts and ties—gathered for a head count, engulfing the small, stunned wedding party.
The occasion was the 2011 Toronto Boardmeeting. Each year on the second Saturday in September, longboarders of all ages and skill levels are compelled to meet at David A. Balfour Park near Yonge and St. Clair, in business attire. Their mission: to take over downtown and, in their words, to “spread the stoke.” The route took them south to Queens Park, past Nathan Phillips Square, over to King and John, and finally northwest to Kensington Market.
Six-year-old Maxavatar Bloess and his dad, Paul, came all the way from Brooklyn to attend.
“My son got his first board when he was four,” said Bloess. “I’m not worried about him getting hurt—only his mom is.” Bloess’ wife is likely used to it by now; he works within the skate community as the shipping manager at Bustin Boards, a New York–based custom longboard company.
The afternoon ride started at 5 p.m. with a group stretch session led by organizer Adam Winston. Riders were divided up by skill level, with the faster, more experienced boarders taking the lead to clear a path for the riders behind them. For 10 minutes, traffic on Yonge Street came to a halt. Most drivers were entertained by the spectacle; many honked in support of the shirt-and-tie-clad skaters whooshing by. Several longboarders managed to high-five cheering pedestrians.
By 7 p.m., the swarm of skaters had arrived in Kensington’s Bellevue Square Park. Visibly exhausted, but happy, they lay in the grass and sat on their boards, exchanging run-downs of the ride. The official after-party was at the WreckRoom, a club in the Annex, but as the sun went down, most of the longboarders headed off in different directions. The streets belonged to cars again.
