Words: Miljan Milekić
Doomscrolling is bad. However, in rare instances, it can produce a gem or two. Like randomly scrolling Instagram during the weekend trip to Toronto, only to see the Story from Andy fucking’ McDonald that he will be riding a demo for the next few weeks, just a five-minute walk from your Airbnb. I can’t remember when was the last time we changed our plans so quickly.
The massive vert ramp, courtesy of CNE Toronto and ASA Entertainment was set up right next to The Princes’ Gates, the eastern entrance to Toronto’s Exhibition Place, ready to provide a playground to six amazing riders for the next three weeks. Legend and Icon, Andy Mac led the charge. After just recently unlocking another achievement in his insane career, by becoming the oldest Olympic skateboarder at the age of 51, MacDonald replaced the concrete skatepark of Paris 2024 with the vert ramp in Toronto without even getting to go home in between. The rest of the lineup included another amazing vert skater, 2014’s Vert Attack winner Paul-Luc Ronchetti, BMX riders and X Games medalists Coco Zurita and Zach Newman, and Japanese brothers Eito and Takeshi Yasutoko on inline skates.
In about 30-ish minutes, which is approximately how long every one of these demo shows lasted, all the riders got the chance to showcase their skills, with the emphasis of making it fun. The fact that this wasn’t the contest took away the pressure component, allowing for a more fun and relaxed session. All the athletes had a few runs for themselves, testing out the ramp and throwing a couple of hammers, before being joined by other guys for some doubles. Although the demo was mainly designed to bring out the fun stuff and minimize the potential of serious injuries, all the riders delivered some of their “A Game” stuff along with some over-under action, including a mid-run board switch by Andy Mac.
CNE, or Canadian National Exhibition, is one of those events that are as mainstream as it gets. A massive festival, fair, entertainment park, and everything in between it welcomes hundreds of thousands of visitors every year, many of them being kids. Having a demo at events like this, it was necessary to strike a balance of catering to core fans, and casual crowds browsing the festival. The tricks needed to be technical enough to please the people within the scene, but still simple and entertaining enough for everyone else. These six guys seemed to nail this perfectly, with a special shout-out to an MC guiding everyone through what was happening on the ramp, without demeaning any of the two groups. At the end of each show, all the riders spent some time with fans, giving out photos, signing autographs, and engaging in short conversations. A nice touch for all the kids, and… well, 35-year-old kids there.
