PHILLY
600
Junday, February 22nd was the date of the Philly
Freeze. It's a skate jam/contest/concussion fest,
named for the winter contests held by Spike's
Skateshop in the salad days of the Philadelphia skate
scene. FDR Park was the site of Philly Freeze '98, and
heads from all over came out of hibernation to enjoy the
beautiful weather, live music, and some gnar-gnar skat-
ing on freshly laid cement.
By the time I pulled into FDR the daggers were in full
effect. In a scene reminiscent of total anarchy, about two
hundred half-drunk skaters flew around the park ollieing
and flipping over pieces of the cement heaven while try-
ing to dodge photographers like me, video guys, and the
occasional flying two-liter bottle of soda.
About forty kids entered the am contest all
lumped into one category. Eight-year-old
skate rats were going up against the big
boys, but with a first prize of two hun-
dred-plus dollars, everyone skated to
win. Bam Margera took first place by
Bamifying the park with a nollie
360 on the Indian wall, high
carves on the over-vert, and
ollies over the big pyramid
with a human obstacle on
top. He celebrated his victory by
tossing all the free shit he won.
into the crowd of greedy youth.
After the contest was over, the rip-
ping of the park continued with the
likes of Wes' tight ollies over the channel,
Gene Rosemarin's gigantor melon grabs,
and Joel Price's kickflip shifties over the
spine piece. The skating went on until the sun
went down and the park was promptly evacuat-
ed by the Philadelphia Police.
The Philly Freeze of 1998 will remain in the
memories of the kids who were there as one of
the best days of skateboarding this winter;
tricks were pulled, beer was drunk, product
was tossed, and there were
rollerbladers. Until next year...
no
-Frankie
RIGHT: Searching for the ulti-
mate rush, Bam Margera
finds himself on the heavy
vert of the Indian wall at FDR.
LEFT: Sunday in the park.
BELOW: Wes jumps from
cupcake to twinkie before
the pigs shut it down.
FREEZE
23