54
THE
Clockwise from right: Young
southern upstart, Nate Holder,
controls a finger-flexing Invert
among a sea of street ramps. Robert
Taylor tunes in on the nearby T.H.C.
ramp. Batmite tears into the Unfair
via a plywood runway.
remote hilltop in a forgotten corner known as the
Folklife Festival, the part of the Fair that promoted
our proud Tennessee Heritage.
1984. Vagrants begin living in the now
dilapidated Old Smokey Lounge and Restaurant,
moving it one step further into the background
of the redevelopment plans of the Fair site.
February, 1986. Batmite and J. Cab locate the
unused and forgotten remains of the tourist at-
traction. Later that night with the help of Slam-
my they transport two ramps from a nearby
warehouse which had been gutted by fire. A
chosen few begin to make a ritual of travelling
via skate to the former site of the Folklife Festival.
March, 1986. The weather improves and so
does the number of ramps. The vagrants set fire
to the closed restaurant. Our ramps escape
unscathed and the bums stay away for awhile.
April, 1986. We hear of plans for a proposed
highway addition and an exit ramp right through
our new playground. We know that someday this
spot must die. But the construction is not
scheduled to start until the spring of 1987. This
buys us a small amount of time.
May. The bums return and cause trouble. We
arrive one day to find some of our newly con-
Jay Cabler directs his attention to the banked leg of the 1982 World's Fair Sunsphere structure.