While a wildfire burned near Kamas to the east, Heber’s Southfield Skatepark was decidedly smoke-free last Thursday evening for the 12th annual Fair Days skate competition. A sprouting of signs warned that cigarettes and vaping were prohibited, and MC Mitch Nelson provided the crowd with facts and figures in support of healthy decisions.
Carnival rides spun in the background on the Wasatch County Fair midway’s opening night as riders of all ages registered to compete in scooter, BMX and skateboard categories, with fair queens in their sashes greeting participants at the entrance to the park.
Nelson noticed a youngster rubbing wax on the edge of an obstacle to assist in his trickery, then voiced words of caution through his megaphone so no one was caught unaware by a surprisingly slippery surface.
“The little homie’s waxing the ledge. Make sure you recognize,” Nelson said.
Event sponsor Wasatch Behavioral Health provided a free tie-dye T-shirt station with anti-tobacco messaging beside the Wasatch County Health Department’s tent, which offered complimentary stickers, bottled water and granola bars along with giving the contestants brat-green rubber wristbands reading “Live Addiction Free.”
As temperatures began to dip below 90 degrees, Midway skater Walker Nelson was trying kickflip body varials in the shade under the picnic pavilion before his turn in the intermediate skate division. He described his planned run as “pretty risky,” but he had been practicing with his older brother earlier in the day. Safe Kids Wasatch provided helmets, which were required, to anyone in need.
The contest kicked off at 5 p.m. with five participants in the scooter contest zooming through the bowl sections and flying out above the coping while tail-whipping and tweaking their devices. Volunteer judges, including former sponsored skater Edward Latus, graded the competitors using an Olympic-style scoring system with points awarded for tricks landed, creativity and full use of the Wally Hollyday-designed concrete skatepark.
Brothers Emmett and Jacob Jones earned the top two places in the scooter division, with Mason Brown taking third place. Midway’s Gravity Coalition, in their sixth year supporting this competition, contributed prize bags delivered to the winners on the ad-hoc podium atop the hip ramp.
The three Weaver brothers from South Jordan were the only contestants in the BMX category. Eleven-year-old middle sibling Bridger is a national freestyle champ, sponsored by Champion Electric. He secured first place even though his finale trick, a backflip out of a bowl, came just after the first of his two 45-second run times expired. Porter and Carter joined him on the podium to receive their accolades and pose for photos.
The skateboarding contest featured the highest participant count, with riders of all genders separated into self-designated beginner, intermediate and expert levels. Girls outnumbered the boys 5-2 in the seven-rider beginner group, and the supportive crowd lining the skatepark fence cheered on their ollies, carves and drop-ins, and then when Lachlan Latus summoned the courage to ride down the five-stair.
Intermediate skaters came next, upping the skill level to include handplants, early grabs, backside 180s and fly-outs around the transition elements. Riders complimented each other as they congregated around the tombstone obstacle between runs, bumping fists and saying, “That’s sick,” in a spirit of camaraderie.
Suddenly, out in the space between the carnival and skatepark, dozens of teens ran to where a fight had broken out. A shirtless, bloody male had been hit by another boy using brass knuckles who was handcuffed and taken away by Heber police.
Inside the skatepark, the stage was set for the expert level competition. Noah Dane Sutton from Kamas was attending with his wife, Dominique, on the fifth anniversary of their wedding. Wearing a bicycle helmet, with his right arm wrapped in an ACE bandage and his left hand in a support brace, Sutton skated fearlessly around the street and bowl sections with a stronger second run that still wasn’t quite enough for him to place.
Park City 15-year-old Callie Carman, sponsored by Dang Shades, 187 Killer Pads and Triple 8, secured her third-place position in the expert division with numerous spine stalls and transfers. Matthew Muir, wearing a blue T-shirt supporting the Salt Lake City skateshop Time Machine, took second place.
“Buff” Jake Tayler from Eagle Mountain has made a name for himself with footage in recent local videos and was mentoring a younger skater, Kalil Mishalanie, on some flat concrete by the bathrooms while waiting for the expert level call time.
During a free skate between contest runs, Taylor entered the course without the required helmet and promptly took a slam in one of the deep bowls.
Nelson, the announcer, proposed that such a fall was “karma” for riding without a helmet, then sourced a helmet for Taylor to wear.
Taylor secured his expert-level victory with a flawless first run that included a crooked grind, a kickflip into frontside boardslide and a backside lipslide down the street section’s handrails.
After the last prize bags were distributed, tents were broken down, spectators drifted toward the carnival and skaters continued riding for pleasure in the cooler temperatures preceding sunset. An older local who didn’t place in the expert division posited that perhaps if he had more successfully heeded the event’s anti-smoking message throughout his life, he would have performed better.