Last year, more than 6,000 snowboarders packed a block in Denver’s River North neighborhood, celebrating their single-planked community with films, music, gear and drink.
Catastrophic floods had just ravaged many parts of the Front Range, but Adam Schmidt’s Snowboard on the Block Festival party was pumping.
“People were just raving about it,” said the 34-year-old organizer of the block festival. “Everyone is coming back this year.”
Schmidt is going four times bigger Saturday for his second block party and expects attendance to surge. Moving beyond a regional focus, this year’s festival — revolving for actually two blocks around the Exdo Event Center at 35th and Walnut streets — is hosting 21 movies and 16 bands on three stages. A dozen snowboard shops will be peddling discounted gear, and more than 100 snowboard brands will be showing off their latest creations. He’s got 25 tons of ice — enough to fill three tractor trailers — that his team will convert into snow for a pro athlete rail jam.
“Last year, we were creating as you go,” he said. “This year, we are a step ahead.”
Schmidt’s shindig is considered one of the country’s best snowboard-centric parties and the most celebrated kickoff party for the season. Many season-sparking events tend to blend snowboarding and skiing, but Schmidt’s is singularly focused on boarders.
“This is our party,” said the lifelong rider, who also serves as editor of Snowboard Colorado Magazine and president of KidsKnow Distribution, the country’s leading distributor of snowboard films. “We are helping core snowboard shops and independent mountains and, really, the industry get amped for the season.”
Snowboarding could use the spark.
In the early 1990s, board riders made up a mere 7.7 percent of visitors to U.S. ski areas. As skiing stagnated, snowboarding rescued the resort industry, with riders surging to 32.6 percent of all ski-area visits in 2009-10.
But snowboarding is slipping today.
Those youthful, energized riders who buoyed snowboarding — and the entire snowsports industry — are aging and having kids. They are riding less. Snowboard sales are declining. More riders are leaving the sport. Fewer newcomers are showing up for lessons. Research by the National Ski Areas Association predicts a continuing slide, which started from that visitation peak of 32.6 percent in 2009-10 and has shriveled every season since to 26.6 percent in 2013-14.
But rider identity continues to thrive, with its surf-rebel roots. Schmidt’s party will amplify that distinctiveness.
“There is still a lot of life left in snowboarding,” he said. “Show up Saturday and that will be obvious.”
The Snowboard on the Block Festival is also the North American Snowboard Film Festival, with several filmmakers hosting their world premieres at the daylong event. Schmidt has rented two monster LED screens — the largest available for rent — to show the movies, which include Videograss’ “Mayday” and Absinthe Films’ “Heavy Mental.”
For music, Schmidt enlisted punk-rock veterans The Misfits and hip-hop’s prolific Mobb Deep as headliners.
Snowboard brands from around the country will set up tents and banners. Shops treat the event like Denver’s chain-dominated Labor Day ski sales. Riders pore through the gear “like it’s snowboarding’s Black Friday,” Schmidt said.
Aaron Brill and his Silverton Mountain crew will set up shop and peddle discount passes, heli drops and lift tickets. Brill, the snowboarding co-founder of southern Colorado’s notorious ski area, appreciates the irreverent, rider-focused events.
“Where else would we give away Silverton Mountain-branded condoms? Safety first!” Brill said. “The Snowboard on the Block event is probably the biggest preseason event in Colorado, if not the U.S., for those who love to ride and want to get fired up.”
With the explosive growth in River North, Schmidt wonders how long he will be able to commandeer two blocks so close to downtown Denver. His party is in the shadow of new condo developments, galleries, restaurants, bars and breweries that are sprouting up regularly in the fertile neighborhood.
“This place is so perfect. It seems like it was created just for this festival,” he said. “I’ll try to be here as long as I can.”
Jason Blevins: 303-954-1374, jblevins@denverpost.com or twitter.com/jasonblevins
Snowboard on the block
Time: 10:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday Site: Enter at 35th and Walnut streets or 36th and Larimer streets
Tickets: $25 at the gate. Schmidt is selling advance tickets for $15
. To encourage advance purchasing, he’s giving one early buyer a free day of helicopter snowboarding with British Columbia’s Eagle Pass Heli outfit
Online: blockfestival.com
