The Jamestown Skateboarding Community’s Go Skate Day is set for June 24. Submitted photo

The skateboarding community in Jamestown is hoping to welcome new members into its fold this weekend.

The annual event, Go Skate JTNY is set for Saturday from 2 to 9 p.m. Go Skate Day has been a community event for 17 years, with the first being held in Jamestown in 2007. The event has been held at different venues each year — East Third Street from 2007 to 2010 and at Jamestown Skate Products from 2011 to 2022 — but this year will be held at the new JTNY Powerhouse Skate Park at 117 Fairmount Ave. New this year, the event will be a part of a collaboration between multiple businesses and organizations. In the event of ran, the event will move to Jamestown Skate Products.

The event is run by Jamestown Skate Products, but this year the business will be collaborating with Whirlybird to add music and an overall festival feeling to the event. Sponsors for the event include; The City of Jamestown, Fund for Downtown Programming, Jamestown Local Development Corporation, Jamestown Renaissance Corporation, Jamestown Skate Products and Whirlybird Music and Arts Festival.

Miki Girts, Whirlybird festival director and one of the event organizers, said the event will be free to the public and promises contests and multiple concerts throughout the day.

“There are free contests for people to participate in, including Highest Ollie, Highest Hippie Jump and a Cone Race,” Girts said. “This year the event collaborates with our concert series and we will have performances from artists such as Mike Gantzer and the Mall Grabs and Bad Waitress.”

Other performers include the Elektra Kings — a local surf rock band. Mike Gantzer — who is also a part of the band Aqueous — will also be performing in a trio featuring Evan McPhaden of Aqueous and Ryan Nogle, who is formerly of Aqueous and now Funktional Flow. The trio will be doing an exclusive set of Tony Hawk Pro Skater tracks.

Food will also be offered at the event, including Moon doggies, hotdogs, hamburgers and sprinkle cones.

Girts said the event is open to all ages and is completely free, though they will accept donations for any and all of the artists.

“People should expect skateboarding, good vibes, community, smiles, food, hopefully sun, and free contests,” Girts said.

For Girts, the most exciting parts of Saturday’s event will be holding the event in the new “world class” skatepark, and having nationally touring artists come perform. Additionally, Go Skate Day is a national event which started in New York City, and Girts said he is looking forward to having a linchpin for the skateboarding community to introduce people to the community and for those already involved to come and hang out together.

“This community is one of the tightest communities in the area of athletic and artistic performers,” Girts said. “The community is growing. The local shop has received accolades, including Shop of the Year — which is a national thing. We have a Tony Hawk Foundation skatepark, which is crazy.”

Girts said the event will provide the opportunity for kids and people of all ages to come do healthy things together and to challenge themselves.

“Skateboarding can provide some important life lessons, such as persistence and when you fall down, how to get back up,” Girts said.

Girts referred to the overall skateboarding community in Jamestown as “awesome”, saying it is very inclusive and has some great leaders who work to create networks for people in the region and also nationally to come to Jamestown to skateboard. Girts said this includes people in San Francisco and overall California who have come to see what the community was all about.

“Our skateboarding community provides a great support system and we do it right,” Girts said. “There is love and passion and it is very welcoming. The community works to pass on the knowledge of skateboarding and it is fun. Skateboarding is an art form that allows you to express yourself.”

In the future, Girts hopes they will be able to keep the event going and that the local skateboarding community will continue to grow.

“It’s amazing what this community has been able to accomplish in the last few years,” Girts said. “The shop got Shop of the Year and we opened the skatepark. I hope we are able to bring more people into the community and continue to grow and bring them to the area to see what Jamestown has to offer.”

Bringing more people to experience Jamestown is a huge goal for Girts. He said he hopes the community will be able to continue to work, learn and improve.

Also, with the first time collaboration of the music and the skateboarding event, Girts said they will see how it goes and hopefully continue to hold their “own little festival” each year.

There will also be an after party following Go Skate Day, featuring Mike Gantzer and The Mall Grabs and Feverhawk. The after party will be from 9 p.m. to 12 a.m. at The Beer Snob.

Girts welcomed everyone to come out and enjoy the day.

“Everybody is welcome,” Girts said. “Whether you are curious about skateboarding or have tons of experience or no experience, you can come check it out and be a part of the Jamestown skateboarding community.”