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Greenport’s 8th annual Skate Park Festival will be ‘free day of family fun’ Sunday

File photo.

Greenport’s annual Skate Park Festival will roll into town this Sunday.

“The event will be free —from the competition itself to the food and drinks — thanks to some generous local donors,” said Greenport Village Mayor George Hubbard.

Notable donors included Peconic Landing, which donated food to be barbecued, while Hummel Plumbing is providing drinking water. Greenport Fire Department Relief Hose No. 2 gave $300 to the event, which organizers used to buy “hamburgers and gatorade.” Alice’s Fish Market will provide ice. Village highway crews are bringing tables, chairs and trash cans.

Hubbard and his family will also be donating homemade cookies and brownies for the day, he said.

“It’s a family fun day — you don’t want to worry about having money to buy a drink, so we do it all for free,” Hubbard said.

Hubbard said the highway department has been working the past few months to patch up the skate park in preparation for the event.

“In years past, the skate park has gotten forgotten about,” Hubbard explained. “We like to use this event now as a way to get things moving and make sure it gets annual maintenance. This event comes each year in July or August, so now each May or June we start working and doing upkeep, so the kids can use it year round.”

Andrew Semon, one of the organizers of the event, says the difference in the quality of the skate park has been noticeable.

“It’s been getting nicer and nicer these past few years,” he said.

Semon, 22, of Greenport, has been skating since age 12 and attending the festival since he was “a kid.”

When he heard that the organizer of the festival was stepping down several years ago, he and his friend, Beau Pollack, volunteered to partner with Village of Greenport to run the event.

“I like doing it for the kids, since this was always something I enjoyed when I was younger,” Semon said.

Part of the competition will be done as “a jam” with several different age brackets (to be decided based on turnout) competing.

“A jam is basically where you have everyone go out and skate at once, with a couple judges that watch everyone and judge individually,” Semon said.

There will also be a street course, and single runs for vert ramps. The judges will award first, second and third place prizes for the competitions.

“We got prizes donated from local skate shops that I think the kids will be excited about,” he said. “Though it is a competition, it’s going to be a laid-back thing — the day is all about having fun.”

The event will be on July 24 from 12 to 5 p.m. at the Greenport Skate Park on Moore’s Lane.

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Courtney Blasl
Courtney is a freelance photographer, videographer, web designer and writer. She is a lifelong Riverhead resident.