Anyone reading this blog may recall about a year and a half ago we had a young man working for us by the name of River. We just referred to him as "Puddles". After a brief tour he decided to forgo a paying occupation and concentrate on his music. Well as he has kept in touch with us via Facebook, Angela was aware of his goings on and last week heard he was playing a gig at a place referred to as the "Candy Factory" in downtown Clearwater. I'd never heard of the place but then I am not to hip on the local hot spots. As it turns out at 701 Lakeview rd in Downtown sits "The Candy Factory". It is, in fact a candy factory. Or it was...or is. I'm not to sure. As we arrived the actual factory was closed, and to look into the window it was hard to tell if it was in fact still in operation but as it turns out, it wasn't our actual destination. Point in fact it was the large warehouse right next door at 699. A nondescript white corrugated structure, in a small park of a few more such buildings. The only sign or marker of any distinction was a large "For Lease" sign screwed to the street front face. A tad perplexed as we arrived anticipating vehicles, lights, music we were met with darkness and silence. As our cab pulled into the parking lot behind to turn around we saw a small group of people standing and milling about. Angela took a look around and spotted River. We'd found it. In the rear of the common structure in a broken paved parking lot, in a large bay door akin to a "you store it" service/storage bay surrounded by a sagging chain link fence sat a cluster of "young" folk.
Upon seeing the sliced jeans, and spiky Mohawks and leather...
I paused.
Angela did not.
She's much more comfortable in these surroundings.
Throwing caution to the wind I joined her in greetings.
As I looked around I began to notice there was in fact a much more diverse group of attendees, some surpassing me in age and some kids in ages in the single digits. As it turns out the place was an indoor skate park. No not the disco ball, slap wheels on your feet and do it to an Abba medley but an "Extreme Sports" skateboard park.
Seems a group a gents got together and rented out this old warehouse and through some good old fashion elbow grease and sweat equity built themselves a pretty "rad" (to quote the out of date vernacular) skate park. Complete with two half pipes, various rails, a couple of humpy looking things, a high wall I saw only one guy get up, and a couple mobile ramps.
Now to put an even more Serendipitous slant on it one of the gents responsible for the build was our next door neighbor from the house we rented in Dunedin when we first moved to Pinellas county about 7 years ago. His son was the star of the park hands down!
What a trip. I remember when the kid was four and his Daddy brought home his first board. He had banged around on my boy Elijah's board briefly and seemed interested in it so his dad went out and bought him one.
WOW!
As my boys outgrew the fad quickly this young man stuck to it! Hard to describe watching him move as I know little to nothing about the names for the moves he was doing but be secure in the fact that some humans CAN defy gravity! He made it look effortless! He had his spills, but few and far between and he got right up and moved on. As many young men ranging in ages from 8 to 40 were zipping about having a blast showing off I was struck by the genuine sense of comradeship between them all.
River and his band played three sets, it was a small crowd and the amps were up so high as to drown out his vocals but it was a garage band a group of friends jamming to a group of friends. Several folks were coming in and out decked out in their Halloween costumes lending a festive feel to the whole thing, as a few guys played a casual game of hoops in front of the band as they played. I took a couple shots myself until one errant throw ricochet off the back board veering into one of the bands guitars on it's stand. I thought better of continuing, as quite frankly I am no sportsman.
I got to talk with the head honcho after awhile that's when he filled me in on all the history. They charge nothing for folks to use the park and have no posted hours. They serve refreshments and sell chotsky's to help pay for the upkeep and maintenance of the place, but just want to keep it casual and for folks to have fun.
My kind of business ethic!
So as they have more events I told them to send me flyer's and I'd help them solicit. I'm a firm believer in like business's supporting each other.
So look to be hearing more about them in the future.
ANYWAY!
Thanks to the folks keeping me jumping on Friday and Saturday. 4X4 Friday was a resounding success as we sold the four by 11.00 am and two more after. Three of them I'd just finished!
We do have a few new goodies though worthy of checking out tomorrow! A sweet Trek 950 and a real quick Iron Horse MTB that hauls!
Alright, check them out and check us out tomorrow!
Night!
 |
| TREK 950 ONLY $110.00!! |
 |
| IRON HORSE MTB $110.00 |
 |
| CRUPI BMX ONLY $200.00!! |
 |
| 20" BMX ONLY $35.00!!! |
No comments:
Post a Comment