The Friends of the Ann Arbor Skatepark are applying for a Pepsi Refresh grant (http://www.refresheverything.com/ )! This is one of those dealies where we’re up on their site for a month, and if we get the most votes we get the moolah!

We’re going for the $250,000 grant and we need YOUR help!

Ok, so we in Ann Arbor have a love/hate relationship with Art Fair, not unlike football Saturdays. However, we here at the Skatepark LOVE the Art Fair! This is one of our most fun opportunities to get out and talk to the community about the project, and raise a significant amount of money.

Own a piece of history! Here’s the classic Grant Brittain shot of Chris Miller at Upland’s Pipeline in ’87 signed by Grant Brittain AND Chris Miller. The print is 18”x24”. It can be yours for a $200 donation to Trevor's 7&7 fundraiser for the Ann Arbor Skatepark on Crowdrise. Make it happen! http://www.crowdrise.com/project/fundraiser/trevorstaples

Hey skateboarding patriots! Here’s your chance to show your patriotism AND show the need for a skatepark in Ann Arbor!

The Friends of the Ann Arbor Skatepark is going to skate in the Jaycee’s 4th of July Parade this Sunday, and YOU’RE invited. Come skate the streets of Ann Arbor, legally for once! Here’s what you need to do:

1. Sunday morning, July 4th, put on a skatepark t-shirt*, grab your board AND HELMET, and meet us downtown, by the Diag.
2. Meet us at the corner of William and State between 9 and 10:00 to sign waivers to skate in the parade. ALL WAIVERS MUST BE SIGNED BY 10:00 AM. IF YOU’RE UNDER 18, A LEGAL GUARDIAN MUST SIGN THE WAIVER. ALL SKATERS MUST WEAR A HELMET.
3. At 10:30, we’ll start lining up in the order that the Jaycee’s volunteers tell us.
4. The parade starts at 11:00! We’ll skate in a group through the streets!

Feel free to bring your friends and family, even if they don’t skate. We need all the supporters we can get to come out and show some skate-pride!

As we skate through the streets, remember that this isn’t a skate session. Please don’t use this opportunity to try out that new trick you’ve been trying to perfect. Just skating around is going to be good enough to show support. We may pick out a few folks to perform some tricks. We’ll let you know.

So please come out and enjoy the parade! It’s going to be a ton of fun, and a great way to kick off July, a month where we hope to raise $7,000 for the skatepark (see link below).

For more info about our July events, click here: http://www.crowdrise.com/a2skatepark7for7

*If you don’t have an A2 Skatepark t-shirt, they can be purchased at Acme Mercantile, Vault of Midnight, Launch Board Shop, and Redbelly Board Shop.

We’d love to have you join as we skate down the streets of Ann Arbor in the Jaycees 4th of July parade. Wear your A2skatepark shirt, bring your friends, your family and your skateboard - helmets required to skate - and help show the community how much you want a public skatepark!

Parade line up starts at 9am – more details soon.

In mid-May, we sent out a questionnaire to all city council candidates running in the August 3rd primary to find out what their thoughts are on the Ann Arbor Skatepark initiative (all of the candidates are running in the Democratic primary except for John Floyd, who is running in the Republican Primary). See the responses to the questionnaire here. Any late responses we receive will be posted as they come in.

Thanks to all of the candidates who participated in the questionnaire!

Last night we opened our skate-art exhibit at the Ann Arbor Art Center (AAAC). The exhibit includes the more than 50 skate decks that were created by artists from across the country. The decks will stay at the AAAC for two weeks. Big thanks to Marsha Chamberlin and Josie Bockelman at the AAAC for making the event so perfect!

The Ann Arbor Art Center is exhibiting artwork from The Second Annual Skatepark Benefit Art Show May 22 through June 13, 2010. The opening reception for the exhibit is Saturday, May 22, 5:00pm-7:00pm, at The Art Center, 117 W. Liberty St., Ann Arbor, MI, and will include the unveiling of the skatepark design concept at 6:00pm. The Skatepark Benefit Art Show Show, hosted by Vault of Midnight last week, was a live auction fundraiser for the Ann Arbor Skatepark that featured more than fifty hand-painted skateboard decks from local and national artists.

The Second Annual Ann Arbor Skatepark Benefit Art Show kicks off at 6 p.m. and runs until 11 p.m. on May 15.

Vault of Midnight, in conjunction with the Ann Arbor Skatepark Steering Committee, is proud to host The Second Annual Ann Arbor Skatepark Benefit Art Show. Artists of local and international renown are contributing original artwork using skate board decks as both inspiration and canvas. The decks will be appraised by our prestigious panel of judges (including the likes of Phoebe Gloeckner, Davy Rothbart) who will select their favorites as winners from the entries. All of the contributed decks will then be put up for a live auction hosted by Malcolm Tulip and, most importantly, 100% of the proceeds will benefit Ann Arbor’s very own skatepark.

The Friends of the Ann Arbor Skatepark will host Wally Hollyday Design at the second of two public skatepark design input meetings on April 25 at 4 p.m. in the Slauson Middle School cafeteria., 1019 W. Washington. There is no charge for attendance.

In October, 2009, Mr. Hollyday led over 60 local skaters, community members, elected officials and government staff in a workshop to let him know what our community wants and needs in a skatepark. On April 25, Mr. Hollyday will bring several rough conceptual designs for the public to comment on. After this workshop, he’ll create the final concept for the park. RSVP on our Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=108635042504557

Unveiling of the conceptual design will be on May 22, 2010 at the Ann Arbor Art Center. Details to come.