This Friday May 16, Yellow Cab Tavern will host a benefit for Dayton's Home Ave DIY skatepark. A portion of the admission fee, art, and T-shirts will be donated to build upon and improve the skatepark. The event will feature artists from around the country and local music including Nightbeast, Frank Calzada, A Tiger Made of Lightning, and Tino. Artist and skateboarder Bil Tipton put together the event to help raise funds for the skatepark and to shine a light on the benefit of having a space for people to come together.
"I think that DIY skateparks are such a powerful thing in communities because it's built by skaters for skaters. They're taking neglected, unused spaces in cities and turning them into creative, positive outlets where young people and old folks, like me, can get together and work together to problem-solve not only building the park, but skating itself. I think the parks, once they're in, they build real community ownership. You know, like once the folks have made it themselves, you kind of take pride in it. It seems like everybody kind of looks after it and keeps it tidy and it just seems like it's about more than skating at that point. It's building something together that lasts a long time." said Tipton.
The DIY skatepark, which many just refer to as Home Ave, was primarily built and organized by Digg City Goon Squad. At first this park was started without permission, but after approaching City Hall, they were given the go ahead to continue building. The park is located under a bridge, giving skaters shelter from the weather, and is adorned in mosaics and paint. All of the funds for the park are community funded or put up by Digg City Goon Squad.
Tipton explained,"Those guys are the people who have built that park essentially- pulling together funding, doing all the work, and most of the paying themselves up to this point. So that's kind of what sparked me on this stuff, but, essentially the city gave them a space on Home Avenue there in Dayton. It's under the bridge, under the highway, and over the years, they have added more and more to it and continue to modify it and make it more skate-able and, you know, regular upkeep and stuff like that. But basically, I went there, over a year and a half ago and found out about all this and all the dedication that they've put into it. It really inspired me. Just so much sense of pride and community between everybody up there and the wild welcoming folks that I ran into just about every time I've skated there."
The Home Ave DIY Skatepark Fundraiser is Friday, May 16 at Yellow Cab Tavern starting at 7pm.
