Record Crowds Make East Coast Snowboarding History in Downtown Boston
 

In Boston during the Revolutionary War, a group of colonial militia members was dubbed the “Minutemen,” named for their ability to be ready to fight at a moment's notice. They could be deployed quickly, were highly mobile, and helped change the war's course due to their novel tactics.

Fast forward 250 years, and Beantown saw another invasion of tactical, highly skilled men and women descend upon the city. Although no tea was dumped into the harbor this time, it was heavy snowboard tricks thrown down on the steps of City Hall Plaza.

Red Bull brought their long-running Heavy Metal event to the East Coast for the first time, and Boston showed up to watch in record numbers. The crowd, estimated at around 20,000 spectators, a few hundred more than the Bruins home game that night, watched as some of the top street snowboarders in the world battled it out through 3 separate zones for a cash purse of $30,000. 

Darkside teamed up with Red Bull as the merchandise sponsor for the event, running a tent in the vendor village to supply the crew and crowd with hoodies, shirts, and beanies. We also brought our own militia to the city as shop riders Jess Perlmutter, Maggie Leon, Erin Alexander, and Connor Cavanagh were all on the invite list and ready to massacre the setup.

While the riders warmed up on Zone 1, a down bar followed by a 3-block, the crowd moved in and quickly filled Government Center to the brim. Erin’s signature back boardslide, one of the best in the biz, opened up Heat 1, and the whole crew went off from there. Darkside OG Lucas Magoon took the route less traveled and started 50-50 tail tapping the scaffolding railing; a classic Gooner move to ride something not intended to be ridden and get the crowd fired up. As always, Connor Cav was on his game with a whole bag of tricks, including a smooth back tail press on the down bar. In the end, Jess laced a front board through the rail, earning her the top women’s spot in the zone. 

As the crowd migrated toward Zone 2, the Darkside tent was likely the busiest place in downtown Boston. At one point, the line spanned halfway across the plaza with over an hour straight of non-stop customers looking to get their hands on the limited merchandise. As Grenier and Todd Richards got back on the mic, things slowed down briefly, and everyone’s attention turned to the massive step-down and gap-to-wall ride. Nothing gets a crowd more fired up than big airs and heavy slams, and the winch-powered setup on Zone 2 had everyone at City Hall going wild. Shop friend and Vermonter Jake Gaudet was going off, half-cabbing into the wall ride, at one point landing with so much speed in the transition he took out half the media crew. After a brief course hold due to a brutal slam from one of the riders, Jess managed to snag the top spot again, stomping a massive backflip over the gap, which is always a crowd-pleaser.

As the sun set and the Darkside tent began to sell out of product, the masses filled Faneuil Hall plaza across the street to close things out with Zone 3. The view from the starting gate was one of the craziest spectacles ever witnessed in snowboarding. Everywhere you looked, there were people as far as you could see. An entire block away in a random parking garage, spectators lined every floor, trying to catch a view of the action on the massive kink rail. Shop filmer Henry Viz quickly learned Boston doesn’t mess around, as he climbed onto a barrier to try and get a better shot, quickly being pelted with bottles and cans for blocking the view. “Boston don’t go changin…” or whatever they said in that Todd Richards movie.

The rail in Zone 3 was a giant DFDFD with a creeper on one side that landed into a wall ride. Once again, Gooner won the people's hearts by stomping the kink rail first try and hitting the wall ride, then ollieing the barrier at the bottom, sliding across Congress Street right to the crowd—without doubt, the people's champ. Maggie Leon showed up to the final zone ready to dominate and landed herself in the runner-up position by gapping to the wall ride with classic Jargs style.