The Boroughs Festival

With this year’s WCT Tour Event held in the chilly waters skirting New York, it made sense that surfboard shaping and culture should play a large role in this years “Boroughs Festival”, a celebration of all things culture New York-style.  Art, music, leisure and of course surfboard shaping all came together on one big day in the fantastic Glove warehouse in Port Melbourne, as Melbourne’s art and music community combined to celebrate all things New York.
Island Surfboards represented the surf culture side of things, setting up their racks and showing the masses how the craft are made.  From start to finish Ringa, Hoges and Andy displayed the fine art of shaping, glassing and sanding, before giving away the finished product to one lucky festival-goer.  The display served as a reminder to many that the art of surfboard shaping, although being dominated by the generic import market, is still alive and relevant to many in the core surfing industry.  The response to the workshop was outstanding, with over a thousand people coming through for a look, and over 500 entrants in the competition, according to even organiser and all round good guy Robbie Warden.  It was also a ripping chance for the factory boys to get out and see the direction the industry is moving in, outside of places such as Phillip Island.  All involved definitely benefitted from the day.
As well as the shaping, the festival also involved constant and random skate displays, an exhibition of some of Melbourne’s finest underground artists, fashion and film displays, and a whole range of folk, either enjoying their misspent youth, or remembering it.  This was highlighted by the main act of the day, the New York Dolls.  Mixing their rock, rhythm and blues vibes, the surviving members of the band reminded the crowd of their influence across the music scene in decades past.  Although a little long in the tooth, the band managed to put on a ripping show with lots of vigour, and suitably had the crowd amping.  They were well-supported throughout the day by other talented acts such as The Hello Morning, The Fearless Vampire Killers, Passport for Amy, Ghost Mutt and many more.
All in all the day was relaxed, enjoyable, definitely different, but certainly displayed some correlations between Melbourne and the Big Apple.  If the festival makes a comeback next year (and with how it was received one can only imagine it will be bigger and better), we’d definitely recommend getting along for a taste of something different.

Willy

Cheers to AEG Power Tools for sponsoring the Shed, and supplying some top quality tools for the boys to plow foam!!!

Some pictures from the day courtesy of Andy, Carbie Warbie and Robbie Warden: