Imagine thousands and thousands of your closest friends all together on a beautiful afternoon in Ocean City, MD cheering on local Baltimore favorite Bucky Lasek as he skated his way to victory during the Dew Tour’s Skateboard Vert finals competition. That was exactly how my Saturday was! Seeing the competition up close and personal was more impressive and amazing than anything ever on television. I was able to see all of the athlete’s true skills first hand and every flip, twist and wipe out was more dramatic than the next. A few other events that were held throughout the weekend were the BMX Street Session, Skateboard Legends Bowl Final, the Skateboard Street Session, BMX Flatland Final, BMX Park Final and the Skateboard Bowl Final. The Dew Tour did an amazing job making sure their fans were more than taken care of, not only with their construction of venues and the events that took place, but with the Dew Tour Experience. Within the Dew Tour Experience there were a dozen sponsored tents with giveaways, demonstrations, games, prizes and more. Mongoose had a pump track set up for riders willing to take a chance to ride like a pro. Stride Gum was giving out free gum while pro-slack liners competed all day to be crowned champion; fans could also test their athletic ability on the smaller scale slack line.
Fun fact: Slack lining is a practice in balance that typically uses nylon or polyester webbing held between two anchor points. During the Dew Tour, competitors demonstrated extreme tricks and talents while bouncing and flipping on the slack line.
There was also a small skate park called ‘This is How We Dew It’ for younger but experienced skaters to show off their skills and a ‘How We Dew’ mini ramp featuring demonstrations. Another fan favorite was free samples of Mountain Dew’s new Slurpee flavor from 7-Eleven. Needless to say, this event had you covered in almost every category!
Throughout the venue stands and the Dew Tour Experience you saw a wide range of people. I saw families of all kinds, big groups of teenagers, younger and older adults, and even the occasional passer through wondering what all the hype was about.
Ocean City was the perfect host for the Dew Tour; not only was the 2013 event a success, but the event will be returning to Ocean City in 2014 for a fourth time, says Ocean City Mayor Rick Meehan. I can’t wait to see how the Dew Tour tops itself next year!
