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Rain on Saturday made the planned Shortcuts skateboard race through downtown Syracuse impossible, but it didn’t stop about 20 skateboarders from skating. Instead, they went to the parking garage on West Fayette Street, across the street from Forum Barber, where the race would have ended.

The owners of Flower Skate Shop orchestrated the impromptu skate sesh in lieu of the race. Homemade ramps and ledges were brought out to form a temporary skatepark noon on Saturday. Skaters of all ages came by and tried their best to show off for the other skaters and onlookers.

“Honestly, the rain added to it,” said Dominic Lauber, a Syracuse University student who attended the event. “It was nothing too serious. Once the actual skating started, it was really sick because it was lowkey and intimate.”

Originally, the event was a skateboard race through downtown, with participants able to take any route they choose — thus the name of the event, Shortcuts, said Charlie Giancola, Flower Skate Shop co-owner. Much of the event was played by ear, and skate competitions that occurred were organized only minutes before they would begin.

“It’s a good day; we’re not working,” said Justin Witter, one of the barbers at Forum and an organizer of the skating event.

The skate sesh moved throughout the garage during the day. At first, everyone skated a ramp in front of a large barrel that they tried to jump over. Soon, the focus changed to the handful of ledges scattered around the garage’s first floor, and skaters threw down tricks such as tail grinds, nose grinds and 50-50s. Then the skaters moved to a six-stair in the parking garage.

Skaters tried other tricks too, like kickflips on the stair set and using the outledge to tail grind. The event lasted until around 8 p.m., with many tricks documented on Flower Skate Shop’s Instagram.

Across the street at the barbershop, Flower Skate Shop and Forum collaborated on an art and clothes sale. Clothes with both stores’ logos hung on racks and sat on shelves. Customers flowed in and out of the store to check out the clothes and art and chat with others.

At the front of the shop, chef Kevin Burns and Flower Skate Shop co-owner Pierce Brothers made tacos for the people in attendance. Artwork from four local artists — Tony Washington, Tom Ward, Tommy Lincoln and Fick Neeley — like brightly painted canvases, tapestries and prints hung on the walls. Both Washington and Ward were at Shortcuts, with Ward even getting in on the action and shredding at the makeshift skate park.

The Shortcuts event looked different than initially planned, but the owners of Flower Skate Shop and Forum said they hope to have partnerships in the future and even plan on making Shortcuts an annual event.

“I felt really comfortable.” Lauber said. “There were people of all ages, with the kids skating with some of the older guys. With the garage it was just a really nice … time.”

Published on October 18, 2021 at 11:00 pm