Bull city skaters: A look into the Durham skateboarding scene

It is rare, nowadays, to walk around Durham and not see at least one person with a uniquely graphic skateboard in hand or underfoot. The downtown skatepark often buzzes with skaters of all ages; grinding down rails and scraping their bare sweaty backs on the concrete, only to get back up and try again.

Durham is continuously growing and so are the communities within, one of them being the skateboarding community. Durham has always had, like any other city, a population of skaters. But when the Durham skate park was built downtown in 2009, it created a space for skaters to congregate and inspire others to join, allowing the skating community to grow exponentially. The skate park has become a place of expression, belonging, and support.

“Instead of growing more, it’s forever changing. There’s always a new set of people out there every few years. It’s pretty cool to see new generations come to the park and get integrated into the community,” Jack Williamson, a DSA graduate, commented.

Every year, new people find their way with a board. In Durham a large majority of those people are teenagers, who find solace in the grunge and unleashed subculture of skateboarding. It’s a source of structure and bonding that can be hard to find while coming of age.

“Just do it for fun. Go out there, no ones gonna really judge you. Everybody was there at one point, you know everyone starts off somewhere,” Williamson voiced.

Despite the intimidation that comes with being a beginner, everyone is there to help and support each other. Whether it’s sharing advice on a trick, helping each other up from a fall, or running beside a friend's board to get a good video, there's no shortage of a helping hand.

“It’s definitely scary at first. But once you start talking to people, everyone's pretty friendly,” expressed DSA senior, Alex Birdsong.

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Comfortable with navigating skating in Durham, Alex Birdsong and Liam Ramesy created a skate club. Their hope for this club is to provide a safe and integrating space for new skaters.

“That was a big step for me [getting to the park]. But I had two other friends and Liam, they were already there so I was like ‘I might as well go.’ It’s not as scary, but if I was alone, it’s actually kinda terrifying,” Birdsong commented.

With the constant influx of new skaters comes a large range of different ages and ethnicities. Since skateboarding is such a public sport and fairly easy to join, it is extremely diverse.

“Skating was a very formative experience, you meet a lot of new people. Get introduced to multiple different backgrounds and income levels and stuff like that. It’s a very big community, and pretty diverse.” Williamson shared.

Skateboarding is such a bonding hobby, that there is no such thing as an unfamiliar face. Thanks to local skate shops and pop-ups like Laboosh and Manifest, there are events held to bring the community even closer. The long, fun hours spent together create strong and unique friendships.

“There’s a lot of people I see at the skatepark everyday, I only see them at the skatepark, but I still consider them a close friend,” Birdsong stated.

Skateboarding can often be unfairly chastised for its association with certain illegal activities, but really it can be something pure. The skatepark can be a space to build work ethic and pride while simultaneously being carefree.

“It’s just a place to mess around. Have fun, kind of do whatever. Not really forced to do anything,” DSA senior, Liam Ramesy concluded.