Four Wheel Fools : The First Annual FOUR WHEEL FOOLS Summer Bowl Jam & Barbecue

Ben Jones - no comply f/s 5-0

This one's a bit overdue. Sorry about that!

It was finally here, the day of the first ever skate jam hosted by the blog.
This was something I had planned from day one of Four Wheel Fools, to make this not only something people hopefully read and viewed but also a brand. With a range of clothes, stickers and other paraphernalia displaying the blog's name. As well as events like this one.
So Four Wheel Fools t-shirts are AVAILABLE NOW and they've come up really well. And they've started selling too. Both Empire Skatepark's Triple Sword store in Colchester and Hardcore Hobbies in Bury St. Edmunds are stocking them and I have a Big Cartel shop online with all sizes and an offer of a free sticker pack with online purchases.
See the banner at the top of the page? Click it and indulge.
I hope to continue to print new designs on various products as frequently as I can afford, but the first run of t-shirts will have to do for now. And some were bought at the jam, the profit will go straight back into another run later in the year.
Keep your eyes peeled for news of new lines on here and the Twinstabook platforms.

Saturday July 30th was overcast to begin with but as I fretted about postponement an cancelation the skies cleared and the sun began to warmed the air. By the time the jam kicked off it was a blazing summer afternoon. Proper blessed!
I'd picked up the new FWF t-shirts from Striptees UK over in Diss on Thursday night and had packed a couple up as prizes along with all the other amazing prize donations from Navitas, Witchcraft, Hardcore Hobbies, Empire Skatepark/Triple Sword Store and Muckefuck. A massive collection of boards and other hardware, shirts, hoods, crews, wheels, bearings, stickers and hats. I was blown away by the generosity of all involved. I'd only described it as a small, local jam and asked for 'stickers.....and maybe a t-shirt'!
The cabling and access to the power source at the park was sorted on Friday, which on Saturday enabled music. That for me was key to a good session. That and a loud megaphone (this was kindly supplied by Tom Ellam). Skate jams are not meant to be quiet, reserved affairs. They should be loud and full of slams, snakes and shouting. Beers, and burgers. Sunburn and blood.
I got to the park - my local Bury St. Edmunds skatepark a good couple of hours before the barbecue needed lighting and laid cables. Power cables, from the source up to.... well that's the thing. Although I had been loaned 60 metres of cable and the required adapters I was still a good 30 metres short if I wanted the speakers close to the barbecue and prize table. Some quick thinking was required, along with some slightly suspect daisy-chaining of extension leads! We still didn't quite reach our goal, but the volume was sufficient to be heard above everything else.
With the barbecue now lit and everything else sorted out I tackled the painting of the back of the jersey barrier. The artistic friend I had asked to paint it had been unable to do it the night before so with my insufficient skills I scrawled three words with car paint on the concrete and left it at that.
2 o'clock came and the bowl platform began to fill up and by the start of the comp, a whole load of donations had been collected and the skaters went in on the bowl with intent.
MC duties meant I couldn't take as many photos as I would have liked, but I managed to get a few frames in before and during the comp. My partner Neen helped a huge amount in organising and setting up and along with John Bird, manned the barbecue and collected donations. Without this help the day would not have gone as smoothly as it did!
Lessons were learnt and improvements will be made. Prizes will be gathered and t-shirts printed before the Second Annual FOUR WHEEL FOOLS Summer Bowl Jam & BBQ.

Death Destroy Films promised to film and produce an edit of the jam, and Cerven came through! So the link is below, then there's some photos. Enjoy... we did.

EDIT HERE

THE PHOTOS