Skate Park opens with contest

More than one hundred cheering skaters from all over the city filled the brand new $1.6 million Astoria Skate Park for the first annual Thanksgiving Throwdown Skateboard Contest.
“Skating is a creative active lifestyle and having this park gives skaters a beautiful place to do it,” said Jimmy Collins, co-owner of Belief, a new skate shop in Astoria that hosted the contest.
The skate park, which opened in October, gave event organizers a place to hold the contest on Sunday, November 28. Skaters had to overcome three obstacles. Each winner got a free skateboard, clothing and accessories. The event was sponsored by major skate and street wear brands such as 10 Deep, The Hundreds, Orisue, Only, 5 Boro, BLVD, No Label Watches, Easter Island, Open Skateboards and Music Skateboards.
“This event is definitely something different, it gives us a chance to practice new tricks and compete for prizes,” said Omare Brown, 17, who lives in Rosedale. “It’s also a cool environment and it gives skaters a place to go that is not private property.”
The contest was also an effort to build up the skate community in Queens and let the kids know they should consider Astoria their new skate destination.
“We wanted to bring everyone together here to see how much noise we could make,” said Raffie Gordon, co-owner of Belief. “We had a great turnout today and the kids love it, my favorite part is seeing them hyped and landing tricks.”
Many new skaters also attended the event to practice and learn new tricks from the contest finalists and winners.
“It was very fun and a lot of complicated tricks went down under the bridge,” said 21-year-old Brooklyn resident Ricardo Castaneda, who won the single ledge competition. “I recommend all skaters to come check it out and stop by the skate shop.”