Built for the Risers
by
Wally Hollyday
1999
122 THRASHER
Clockwise from top left: Plaque build-up.
"Welcome to my domain." Tom Risser takes his
bowl for a frontside carve. Steve Neal's fish was
so stale they had to leave the doors open to air
the place out. Charles Powell brushes the banners
on this transfer over the hip.
Drive
Thru
SECOND WALL
T ALL STARTED ABOUT NINE YEARS AGO
when I found myself staring into the woods
next to my garage thinking, "I like living in the
country but I need someplace to skate, someplace
nearby." This part of North Carolina is not exactly
chock full of skate options, so I thought to clear a
little spot in the woods, set up some cinder blocks,
and make a halfpipe-not realizing that this simple
little idea of building a halfpipe would turn into a
major undertaking and an eventual lifestyle change
beyond what I could ever have imagined.
My main problem with building a halfpipe, though, was
forgetting that I'm not a halfpipe skater. When I first got
heavily into skating it was at the Concrete Connection.
Skatepark, in Charlotte, about 20 years ago. This means that
I am a product of smooth moguls, big bowls, banks, and
snakeruns that throw you around, all the while daring you to
hang on for you life. I guess that's why when I built my mod-
est 8' tall, 16' wide halfpipe, after about six months I wanted
more. I wanted those moguls, banks, and even a snakerun. So
over the course of eight years I built them. Every square inch, by
myself. I never planned on it growing into such a monstrosity. I
know my wife didn't. It just happened. People would come up to
me and shake their heads and ask "Why?" but you know those
people don't skate. A skater would never ask me why, ever. When
I look at that ramp I don't see the untold hours it took to build it.
I see transfers and speed lines that never end. I see a smile on every
face that takes off around the outside loop and whips around the
backside of the 13' vert wall until it loops back to the other side
about 400 feet later. It's about passion for skating. It's always a great
ride and it's right next door. But I still wanted more and there's only
so much you can shape wood and metal into....
I like to say "you only live once," and if you are going to dream about
something, why not try to live that dream? For years I had been dream-
ing about the long-since-destroyed concrete parks of my past. I had
drawn up many ideas for my own concrete bowl, hidden inside a barn
for all-weather skating and low maintenance. It seemed impossible until
last September, when Brewce Martin, owner of Skatopia, put me in touch
with the greatest skatepark builder of the past, Wally Hollyday.
Now, after meeting with Wally, I'm living my dream. I have a 3500 square
foot barn covering a 2200 square foot bowl. The bowl is a weird shape.
Basically, it's a six-foot-deep square connected to a five- and four-foot-deep
round that drops into an eight-foot-deep round. It's kind of a square that goes.
right, into a kidney. It's great; when I fly around my bowl I remember the con-
crete skating of old, but they didn't build them this well back then. Sometimes
I can't believe this thing is sitting 50 feet away from my house. Most of the vis-
itors who stop by can't believe it either. I constantly have to answer their ques-
tions about why and how. No, I didn't build it for my kids. No, I won't be filling
it with water. Yes, I might be insane, but then again, how would I know? I finally
have to say, "Look, if I had built a swimming pool, we wouldn't be having this con-
versation; but I don't care to swim, I skate." Skating is my therapy; it is my release.
If I don't skate for a week; my wife makes me. I have a lot of creative energy, enough
that might drive everyone crazy if there weren't so many outlets like building some-
thing to skate or making some weird metal skate sculpture, like the life-sized skate
robots that surround the ramps. Mostly, though, my outlet is getting on a skateboard
and going fast... real fast. As long as I can turn and go fast, I'm living my dream.
Yes, I do let people come over and skate. I remember growing up and having
nowhere to go. I wish there were someone who had a place open like this way back
when. We have met some great people and I love watching everyone ripping around
my creations. We just ask that people respect our privacy and remember this is a home.
-Tom Risser
123