This year I woke up in a tent. I opened my eyes and saw a homie passed out drooling with an ashy bowl next to him. This means he was definitely ripping said bowl in my tent. Yes, this was a highly flammable situation but fire safety didn’t matter, ‘cause I was at Heckfest – essentially Christmas for any skateboarder from NH to upstate NY.
Heckfest is a yearly congregation of about 40 of New England’s finest skateboarders. Every year attendance grows. Every year there is more beer, more fire, more debauchery and of course; a way heavier skate session. This takes place on Brian Heck’s land in beautiful Great Barrington, MA – way the fuck out in the back- waters of Massachusetts. The townfolk grumble when we arrive, and breathe a well-deserved sigh of relief when we leave.
The skate session usually starts at about 11am on the first Saturday of each October at the GB skatepark. As people start sweating out their rotten hangovers, the session really heats up. By about 3pm, you’ll start to hear people asking what the plan for the night is. Are we partying at Heck’s? Are we going to take over the local bar, crowd surfing our friends to whatever kara- oke song a toothless local is singing? Is there an unsus- pecting lady who offered to have a party, without fully realizing the severity of her offer? All of these have happened in the past, and you never know what you’re going to get yourself into, where you’re sleeping, or what type of trouble you may have to bail your friends out of. After the session ends when the sun goes down, the party begins.
There are uncountable stories from the past few years of this alcohol fueled skateboard party, but the real reason we all get together is friendship. The common bond of being 20-30 something years old and still playing with a stupid toy more than a decade after you started fucking with it. As we all grow older, this is the one weekend a year we all look forward to because for that annual weekend, it’s our world baby.
PG: So what’s your proudest memory of heckfest anyways?
CK: Actually, at the first one I ever attended, a group of girls and probably a few dudes got together and ranked the 10 most handsome men at Heckfest. I was placed second on that list, and that’s directly under first if you’re a counting man.
As far as other things go, just being there is something to be proud of. The fact that you are there for the same reasons that got you skating in the first place is an amazing feeling - friendship, creativity, setting ourselves apart from the outside world. It doesn’t matter if you kill it or not, I’ve been lucky enough to be one of the <.00000000001% of the Earth’s popula- tion that gets an invite to this every year. We basically run the town for a weekend straight, it reminds me of some old Hell’s Angels type shit.
PG: What ended up happening when that lady invited all of you over for a party?
CK: It was like an 18 year old girl and I don’t think she realized that once we got there, we weren’t leaving. It was basically as “high school movie party scenario” as you could get. Drained her snacks, spilled beer everywhere, our friends little brother is 20 and we got him drunk and he puked on her rug. Just general things that wouldn’t make any normal human happy, but she definitely should have known better. Com- pletely not our fault.
PG: Can you tell me about the grumbling townfolk of great barrington?
CK: I honestly don’t blame them. It’s such a small town and for 2-3 days all they see
is skate trash either hungover or drunk invading their nice little trinket and coffee shops. Although this year on the sunday after the fest we all went to this bar to
get food and have a few drinks. The dude working the bar gave us a microphone
and let a bunch of people sporadically try their hand at standup. That was fucking awesome. This was of course until a family with children came in and one friend got a little too racy and got the mic taken away from all of us. It’s all in good fun. They know we aren’t going to hurt anyone, but there’s definitely a vibe in the air that they can’t wait to see our sorry asses leave at the end of the weekend.
PG: What’s the worst thing that ever happened at heckfest?
CK: Nothing awful, no arrests thus far which is a miracle, but just general debauchery. One year I smoked too much pot and drank a little too much too early and passed out shotgun in my friends car. This was at like 9pm. I didn’t know til the morning but they took me on a joyride around town, passed out, and ended at a bar. They left me in the unlocked car while they had a few drinks til last call. I definitely could’ve gotten robbed.
I’ve had friends eat acid way too late, like 2am, and had to coach them down from supreme fear the next day. It’s always just a good science experiment when there are basically no rules mixed with 40 idiots with horrible ideas. You know the deal. Stupid fights, people lighting money on fire, people lighting each other on fire, people skating blackout drunk and rolling ankles. All in a hard day’s work.
PG: What do you think the future of skateboarding holds?
CK: I see a crash coming within a decade or so. When we first started, it was getting picked back up off its ass again after the first big crash in the mid 80’s. Dudes like Hosoi and Alba were basically rock stars until vert died, which left a core group of street skaters - people who actu-
ally wanted to be doing the damn thing, not because it was “cool” at the time or because they were making money and boning sunscreen models at competitions. That’s what the OG street dudes were NOT doing.
Lots of brands now are returning to a back to basics mid 90’s style approach. The videos focus more on speed and style and less on who’s doing the most mind numbing tricks while looking like a little sourpuss robot. I hope to see more people waking up supporting brands like that then supporting huge brands that con- tinue to capitalize on the popularity of the “sport” - which it undoubtedly is not.